INTRODUCTION TO PART 4

By Roland Watson

The final part of the website has an unusual name: Visions of the Futures. The question is, why did I use the plurals - visions, and futures? There can only be one future, right?

For one thing, I intend to consider the future of many different things, including:

- of individuals, such as yourself.

- of society and culture, and social institutions, including the various forms in which they now exist around the world.

- of natural habitats, other species of life, and the planetary ecology as a whole.

- of humanity as a species.

- of life in all of its manifestations, as a distinct existential category or form.

- and of the universe.

Also, I use the word "vision" not in the sense of something that you see, which materializes out of thin air in front of you, but as something that through the exercise of self-discipline, you bring into being. Moreover, I use the double plural to signify a number of other things as well.

First, given universal chaos, the future is not set or determined. There are many possible outcomes, hence many possible futures.

However, given the probabilities as they can now be forecast, some of the alternative futures appear much more likely than others.

I must also add, some potential futures are far more preferable than others, although those that are most likely are not necessarily those that are most preferable.

Finally, given the impact of will, and form, there are futures that we are able to choose, to cause to occur - these are our our realizable visions; and, there are those that are outside our power, and which will effectively be imposed on us.

To be a futurist, one must first be a historian. In the articles so far I have related a history of humanity, using for the most part an evolutionary model. I will now use this history, and model, as the basis for a few predictions.

Also, and as you are no doubt aware by now, I have attempted a synthesis of a wide variety of subject matter and disciplines. Life is exceedingly complex, and my synthesis reflects this.

I hope, though, that I have been able to structure and present it with a degree of clarity such that you have found it illuminating. Still, the story is not yet complete. There are a number of ideas and topics yet to be linked, and it is my intention to accomplish these final connections, to complete my architecture of ideas, in this part of the website.

The University of Life is based on my book Freedom From Form, and as we have seen there are many forms from which it is appropriate to fight for our freedom. I will also use this concluding part of the website to enumerate systematically these forms, and summarize if, and how, we can break free of them.

In doing this, I will complete my description of the behavioral forms of humanity, both of individuals and for our species, that are consistent with - actually necessary for - the attainment of the best possible future world.


© Roland Watson 2015