Philosophy of The Future: Global Problems of Contemporary Society

The Meaning of the Future

The arrow of time pierces human life through and through. The irreversible flow of events renders our future inevitable. Yet, simultaneously, this future remains only partially defined, shrouded in the darkness of ignorance. For us, the future is a multitude of potential states, and our decisions are among the factors that shape what is to come.

The ultimate end of all that exists in time, at least as perceived in the contemporary worldview, is well-known. Death halts the activities of our Universe, earthly life, and within it, the life of each individual and the entire human race. Yet, all living beings struggle for reproduction and the preservation of themselves. In a mutable world, however, this reproduction is impossible without the constant creation of the new, an alteration of the self. Paradoxically, this intertwines opposing tendencies into a single cohesive process: the construction of the future. We understand that everything will eventually end, and death is unavoidable; however, as long as we are engaged in the game of life, we strive to avoid dwelling on the end, setting life goals and dreaming of a desired future. We filter reality through the prism of our desires, relying on the forces within us to shape the future.

One such force is our capacity to comprehend the world and discern within it certain regularly reproduced sequences of events and the logic of interactions, which allows us to partially anticipate forthcoming occurrences.

The experience of the present in relation to the desired and the forecast of the future are by no means solely matters of science. Ultimately, our emotional states have this very orientation: they shape our readiness for anticipated events and register deviations from the expected, thus altering these expectations. Fear is the perception of an immediate threat, an anticipation of an unpleasant consequence of ongoing actions. Anxiety, an unclear apprehension, is similar but pertains to merely possible actions, reflecting the experience of uncertainty regarding the future in terms of potential losses and suffering. Sorrow, despair, and hopelessness are all shades of experiencing the inevitability of loss, the inability to alter an undesirable progression of events, and the sensation of helplessness concerning a bleak future. Conversely, our greatest joy arises from the confirmation of our hopes—that is, the realization of the anticipated desired future, granting us assurance that our wishes will inevitably be fulfilled. Such certainty, contrasting with sorrow and despair, is experienced euphorically, optimistically—one feels capable of anything and believes a happy future awaits. Everyone knows the characteristic anticipation of a pleasant surprise, the gift under the Christmas tree, when you are aware that it is something good, but what exactly?

The unexpected deviation from the anticipated fosters wonder in all its shades: from the feeling of liberation from a heavy burden, when your worries dissipate unexpectedly, to irritation and anger, where surprise intertwines with despair due to an unforeseen obstacle on the path to the desired.

Our emotions would hold little value if they did not govern memory and imagination. Yet both can distort the world and give rise to inadequate expectations. Fears can be baseless, and conversely, the optimism of one who perceives the sea as knee-deep may manifest dangerous overconfidence and a loss of the ability to soberly assess risks.

Thus, it is not surprising that people have long sought to glimpse the future in their fantasies and simultaneously attempt to avert an undesirable future. Dreams and plans, hopes and prophecies are indispensable companions of human life.

For us, the future embodies two parallel semantic contexts: (1) what may be, and (2) what ought to be. But can the future truly be foreseen, and to what extent is humanity capable of being guided by plans concerning the future? How does the image of the future influence our decisions, and what shapes this image? What problems are currently being contemplated in the perspective of humanity's future? These three questions constitute the subject of our examination.