As long as we are talking about the future, I wonder whether there is any reasonable way to create an interesting taxonomy of possible futures. The trivial statement on this subject might be: “Any future is possible, therefore all futures must be considered.”
But that’s not a very interesting view. Some possible futures are highly unlikely. In the next few years we will probably not invent time travel, the faster than light drive, or antigravity. I’m not saying these things are impossible. Just that, based on what we currently know, they are highly improbable.
But some other things, such as the likely effects of global warming, or the continuing influence of Moore’s Law on our daily life, are much more understandable. And these factors could be used to sketch out a sort of rough road map of possible futures.
Perhaps we need a kind of Wikipedia of the future. A set of reference pages that people can turn to, or add to, so that we can build a collective consensus as to what might be in store for us. And maybe even be able to do something about it.
Is that asking too much?