1.

Def goes to show that predictive systematic futures studies are on the rise, though I am surprised by Bishop’s estimate of 400 professional U.S. futurists and 600 total worldwide. Obviously that # does not include military, R&D folks, CEOs, CIOs, and other business employees or leaders charged with predicting the future. IMO, everyone is a futurist to a certain extent, and many non-pros probably take the study of the future seriously enough to be considered pro. That being said, due to the reality of accelerating change in technology, info and human capability-space, I expect the # of professional futurists to sky-rocket over the next few years as businesses and institutions find it more and more necessary to systematically predict their environment. On the flip side, a new surge in Web 2.0 futurism is likely to create a whole lot more amateur futurists. These twin trends (rising # of pros and rising # of amateurs) will likely contibute to a change in the way that we all look at the rapidly approaching future.