Download the syllabus for Stanford Continuing Studies Course “How to Think Like a Futurist”: how-to-think-like-a-futurist-stanford-cs-jane-mcgonigal
Week one: Creativity
General reading/viewing
The 2080 Census: The World as we Don’t Know It
Look back twice as far as you want to look forward: the Census throughout history
Scientific papers
- the four modes of future thinking: simulation, prediction, intention, and planning (a cognitive science/neuroscience perspective)
Fit between future thinking and future orientation on creative imagination
- increasing the temporal distance of future thinking facilitates creative thinking
- Additionally, one’s creative imagination can be improved when thinking timescales and future orientation are aligned
Self-projection and the brain (3 core processes are the same)
Counterfactual thinking: an FMRI study on changing the past for a better future
Remembering what could have happened: Neural correlates of episodic counterfactual thinking
Neural activity associated with self, other, and object-based counterfactual thinking
Cognitive neuroscience of human counterfactual reasoning (past and future)
From what might have been to what must have been: Counterfactual thinking creates meaning
The functional theory of counterfactual thinking
Is there a core neural network in empathy?
The social cognitive neuroscience of empathy
The necessity of others in the mother of invention
Week two: Imagination
General reading/viewing
Six Rules for Effective Forecasting
Institute for the Future – Ten-Year Forecasts
Learning is Earning in the National Learning Economy – Institute for the Future Research Map
The Story of the Chinese Farmer (video)
Society as a Social Invention and You as a Social Inventor
Foresight Signals: A Futurist’s Vacation Reading List
Scientific papers
Desirable and undesirable futures call for different scene construction processes
Week three: Personal change
General reading/viewing
The psychology of future you (Video)
Scientific papers
Time Metrics Matter: Connecting Present and Future Selves
When does the future begin? A study in maximising motivation
Psychological connectedness to the future self
The Future is Now: Reducing Impulsivity Using Episodic Future Thinking
Become more optimistic by imagining a best possible self
“Remembering and imagining: the role of the self” (focusing stories about the future on significant narrative/goal milestones to enhance creativity/foresight)
Episodic future thought and its relationship to remembering (on the importance of signal exposure for autobiographical futures)
Eye movement disrupts future episodic thinking (on the importance of visual-spatial details in autobiographical futures)
“Back to the future: Autobiographical planning and the functionality of mind-wandering”
Week four: Influence
General reading/viewing
Some hints on writing preferred futures
Visioning and future studies and Why imagine the future?
Wanted: Professors of Foresight
Week five: Collective Imagination
General reading/viewing
What If? Everybody on Earth jumped at the same time
What If? Everyone actually had only one soul mate?
Measures of future orientation and self-efficacy
Development of future orientation and self-efficacy – see Appendix A for measurement tools
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