Toward the year 20001997
work in progress
by Daniel Bell
In 1965, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences initiated the Commission on the Year 2000, the forerunner of what became the field of futurism. The Commission did not believe that one could "predict" the future, but sought instead to identify structural changes in society that would have long-term social impacts. And since the Commission believed that choices were possible, it sought to chart "alternative futures" on critical issues that society would face.
The results of the Commission's work appeared in 1967 in a special issue of Daedalus, the journal of the Academy. The volume consisted of "working papers," prepared by the Chairman of the Commission, Daniel Bell, twenty-three memoranda written by such scholars as Daniel P. Moynihan, Erik H. Erikson, Ernst Mayr, David Riesman, James...