Social injustices tend to be addressed thanks largely to activism conducted by those who are early to identify shortcomings in social attitudes and/or government policy; those affected directly and indirectly by such shortcomings, and those persuaded by such action to affect change.
We might identify in the history of many societies a progression from a relative poverty of social justice ideals towards a comparatively tolerant, supportive, inclusive social environment.
Where futurists are:
"People whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general".
...and given that a 2001 survey of 108 futurists identified a number of shared assumptions related to (amongst other things):
- A role in liberating the future in each person,
- Long-term policy transformation,
- Hope for a better future as a "strange attractor"
...it seems plausible that we might somehow chart or trace social progression as a means of generating reasonably accurate predictions of social movements which are not yet registering on our ethical radar but which are likely to emerge in the future. These predictions might then be employed as a means of 'accelerating' the pace of social change (by 'acceleration', I mean only an uptake of change more rapid than it might have been without such forecast and pre-emptive action).
Acknowledging that even were such forecasts be accurate, that implementing any change based upon such forecasts would be very challenging - given the likely difficult tasks of public persuasion and bureaucratic implementation, among other hurdles - have any philosopher/futurists tackled this idea and if so, how have their efforts been received?
Wikipedia provides a list of futurologists with very brief summaries of their works, but the list is extensive and I'm hoping this stack might provide some more focused resources.
