Futures research

1. A broad range of interlinked activities which include: (a) conjectural, speculative and imaginative descriptions of the human future; (b) exploratory forecasts based on methodological extrapolation of past and present developments into the future; and (c) prescriptions, namely normatively oriented future projections in which explicit value assertions and choices are made about how a specific future may be viewed.

2. Any serious, organized attempt to devise concepts and methods which can be used to conjecture intelligently about the human future.