futurology

Etymology

From future + -ology. Attested once in 1934 as the title of play, Futureology; in later use, after German Futurologie, suggested in a 1942 letter to the American scholar John H. Herz by the German political scientist Ossip K. Flechtheim, who used futurology in a 1943 Phylon article.

futurology means the scientific forecasting of future trends in science, technology or society. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.

Why “futurology” is a great word

FUTUROLOGY — [Noun] The systematic forecasting of future trends in science, technology, and society. From English future (time yet to come) + -ology (study or science of). The term was suggested in 1942 by German political scientist Ossip K. Flechtheim, after German Futurologie, and was used in English by 1943. Unlike "futurism," which evokes the angular art and manifestos of the early twentieth century, or "foresight," which implies a general, innate prudence, futurology is a discipline—an attempt to impose methodology on the unmappable. It is the calibrated hum of a mainframe running a population model, the stark confidence interval on a climate projection graph, and the earnest extrapolation of a demographic line into an empty quadrant. It is a practiced form of hope forever calibrating its instruments to read a horizon that retreats as we approach.

noun

The scientific forecasting of future trends in science, technology or society