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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
The Future
How the future has been imagined and made, through the work of writers, artists, inventors, and designers.
The future is like an unwritten book. It is not something we see in a crystal ball, or can only hope to predict, like the weather. In this volume of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge series, Nick Montfort argues that the future is something to be made, not predicted. Montfort offers what he considers essential knowledge about the future, as seen in the work of writers, artists, inventors, and designers (mainly in Western culture) who developed and described the core components of the futures they envisioned. Montfort's approach is not that of futurology or scenario planning; instead, he reports on the work of making the future—the thinkers who devoted themselves to writing pages in the unwritten book. Douglas Engelbart, Alan Kay, and Ted Nelson didn't predict the future of computing, for instance. They were three of the people who made it.
Montfort focuses on how the development of technologies—with an emphasis on digital technologies—has been bound up with ideas about the future. Readers learn about kitchens of the future and the vision behind them; literary utopias, from Plato's Republic to Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland; the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair; and what led up to Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web. Montfort describes the notebook computer as a human-centered alterative to the idea of the computer as a room-sized “giant brain”; speculative practice in design and science fiction; and, throughout, the best ways to imagine and build the future.
The future is like an unwritten book. It is not something we see in a crystal ball, or can only hope to predict, like the weather. In this volume of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge series, Nick Montfort argues that the future is something to be made, not predicted. Montfort offers what he considers essential knowledge about the future, as seen in the work of writers, artists, inventors, and designers (mainly in Western culture) who developed and described the core components of the futures they envisioned. Montfort's approach is not that of futurology or scenario planning; instead, he reports on the work of making the future—the thinkers who devoted themselves to writing pages in the unwritten book. Douglas Engelbart, Alan Kay, and Ted Nelson didn't predict the future of computing, for instance. They were three of the people who made it.
Montfort focuses on how the development of technologies—with an emphasis on digital technologies—has been bound up with ideas about the future. Readers learn about kitchens of the future and the vision behind them; literary utopias, from Plato's Republic to Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland; the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair; and what led up to Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web. Montfort describes the notebook computer as a human-centered alterative to the idea of the computer as a room-sized “giant brain”; speculative practice in design and science fiction; and, throughout, the best ways to imagine and build the future.
192 pages, Paperback
First published December 8, 2017
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594 people want to read
About the author
Nick Montfort
20 books38 followersNick Montfort is Professor of Digital Media at MIT. He is the author of Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction and Exploratory Programming for the Arts and Humanities; the coauthor of Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System and 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10; and the coeditor of The New Media Reader (all published by the MIT Press).
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 19, 2018
This is my first review on Goodreads and I was led to do it after reading some of the reviews to this book. I have to say that the author states right in the beginning that the book is not an history of futurology, there's plenty of other books on that and Nick Monfort even points you to the right references for that. Thus, there's no reason for the reader to though otherwise.
This is an academic work from an academic writer and, taking that into account, I can fairly say that it's a pleasure to read. You pass through the book quite swiftly with engaging pieces of information on every page. The first three chapters focus on more general topics of future making, such as the Italian Futurist art movement, Utopian literature, and the contribution for future technology of the world expositions. These are the broad chapters where the author sets some general principles on future making, always focusing on the implication to the technological artifacts we used daily.
The following chapters narrow the author's analysis on specific areas of our technological present and future, such as the invention of the web and the personal computer. Here you can find engaging tales of non-linear innovation and how future making exercises helped define current technology. You will be confronted with tales from the work of researchers of the like of Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and Alan Kay.
As a treat, throughout the book the author offers the reader a set of 22 principles on how future making exercises can help defining shaping technology for the better. A great book for people working on technology development.
This is an academic work from an academic writer and, taking that into account, I can fairly say that it's a pleasure to read. You pass through the book quite swiftly with engaging pieces of information on every page. The first three chapters focus on more general topics of future making, such as the Italian Futurist art movement, Utopian literature, and the contribution for future technology of the world expositions. These are the broad chapters where the author sets some general principles on future making, always focusing on the implication to the technological artifacts we used daily.
The following chapters narrow the author's analysis on specific areas of our technological present and future, such as the invention of the web and the personal computer. Here you can find engaging tales of non-linear innovation and how future making exercises helped define current technology. You will be confronted with tales from the work of researchers of the like of Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and Alan Kay.
As a treat, throughout the book the author offers the reader a set of 22 principles on how future making exercises can help defining shaping technology for the better. A great book for people working on technology development.
July 26, 2019
Montfort tells a history of the future. Or, in other words, what “the future” meant to people over time. He does this in this short book by focusing on a few specific topics. One was the utopian writers from the last turn of the century. He covers how the future was portrayed in art, and in various World’s Fairs and other exhibits (like EPCOT). He describes the founding of hypertext and HTML and how that was an attempt to build a future. And he describes some future depictions in books of a more recent vintage, what I call “scenario planning fiction”. Given the shortness of the chapters, the author can only mention some specific examples and muse about their connection to society of the day and to the actual creation of the future, but if you are in the mood for these kinds of musings, you may find this of interest. I enjoy these kinds of books, and appreciated the smattering of examples and the comparisons and analysis. The book ends with a call to use the arts and media to create scenarios for the future. Makes sense. I suspect this would be even better with more length.
March 13, 2018
Another terrific notch in MIT Press’s tremendous ‘Essential Knowledge’ belt, this one concerns how various people past, from Futurist-fascists to Internet Pioneers, sat on their rumps and scripted our presents and futures.
February 9, 2018
ht: this book was a gift from ceasar mcdowell in dec 2018.
this short nonfiction book is a particular slice/view of futurism from the perspective of an mit futurist. montfort guides the reader through a series of, in his mind, important moments in futurist history, particularly focusing on the ways people making futures relate to the new "technologies" of the day. as he bounces us through history, he makes a couple of really interesting points that surprisingly create a sense of agency for the reader. my takeaway "in the past, people though about the future differently than we do know. given that, there's no reason we have to keep thinking about the future the way we do now. so get out there and make some futures. also, the most compelling futures, and definitelythe ones that are the most likely to come alive (ex: the internet) are actually built by many people, over time, and with a lot of space for other people to create their own futures within/in relationship to all the other futures.
this short nonfiction book is a particular slice/view of futurism from the perspective of an mit futurist. montfort guides the reader through a series of, in his mind, important moments in futurist history, particularly focusing on the ways people making futures relate to the new "technologies" of the day. as he bounces us through history, he makes a couple of really interesting points that surprisingly create a sense of agency for the reader. my takeaway "in the past, people though about the future differently than we do know. given that, there's no reason we have to keep thinking about the future the way we do now. so get out there and make some futures. also, the most compelling futures, and definitelythe ones that are the most likely to come alive (ex: the internet) are actually built by many people, over time, and with a lot of space for other people to create their own futures within/in relationship to all the other futures.
October 23, 2022
If I were to title my critique of this book, I would call it "Historical Future". When I first saw this book, I was quite interested to read it for two reasons. First, it's a book about the future. Don't we all want a crystal ball? Well, at least have a formula or process to create one of sorts? The second is the publisher: MIT Press. Being technical, I was hoping for something geeky or nerdy or even a combination of the two.
What you get in this book is neither. Instead, you will get tons of history lessons on how big events came to be and the signs to predict these outcomes. However, nowhere in the book is a way to map the historical future and their patterns to our own situation so that we can make better predictions.
The ratio of words to other type of content is about 1% of the book. I didn't think left-brain people like to have a tome with that many words. Don't we gravitate to diagrams, charts, images and other types of visuals to support the text? Us left-brain people truly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. Is MIT re-positioning itself as a more liberal arts institution? I hope not but this book is definitely making a case for it.
I really didn't like the book because of the big disappointment that I felt as I read through it. For those of you right-brain people who wants to say that they have read something back by a left-brain institution without leaving the comfort of the right-side, this book is for you. For those nerdy-geeky type, please pass.
What you get in this book is neither. Instead, you will get tons of history lessons on how big events came to be and the signs to predict these outcomes. However, nowhere in the book is a way to map the historical future and their patterns to our own situation so that we can make better predictions.
The ratio of words to other type of content is about 1% of the book. I didn't think left-brain people like to have a tome with that many words. Don't we gravitate to diagrams, charts, images and other types of visuals to support the text? Us left-brain people truly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. Is MIT re-positioning itself as a more liberal arts institution? I hope not but this book is definitely making a case for it.
I really didn't like the book because of the big disappointment that I felt as I read through it. For those of you right-brain people who wants to say that they have read something back by a left-brain institution without leaving the comfort of the right-side, this book is for you. For those nerdy-geeky type, please pass.
March 3, 2023
Montfort situates his consideration of the concept of future in the creator's perspective, that we generate the future as we innovate. The more common approach by futurists, exponential technology watchers, and quants is to identify current trends and extrapolate them forward under a variety of assumptions. (I think of the extrapolation method as advanced ballistics, in which technological and societal trends are akin to the trajectories of launched projectiles, but with each projectile having a gravitational influence on many others.)
The innovation-centered thinking Montford highlights calls attention to how technological arcs start, emphasizing how some emergent technologies have outsized effects on many other aspects of life, rewriting the NOW, which shifts the FUTURE. The upshot, which I like, is a suggestion humans shouldn't wait for the future to happen to them. They should master creative disciplines and design the future.
The innovation-centered thinking Montford highlights calls attention to how technological arcs start, emphasizing how some emergent technologies have outsized effects on many other aspects of life, rewriting the NOW, which shifts the FUTURE. The upshot, which I like, is a suggestion humans shouldn't wait for the future to happen to them. They should master creative disciplines and design the future.
August 24, 2019
While this book presented some very fascinating examples and analyses of how we imagine and create the future, it gets too bogged down in the specifics about two-thirds of the way through. At times, the stories behind the examples themselves meandered and I wondered what the point was until Montfort suddenly relates the story back to the overarching themes in a final sweep of the last pages of a chapter. That being said, the overall message of the book is an optimistic one, and it explores some themes and ideas that are incredibly interesting. I would love to find a book that expands on these ideas some more and focuses on elements like the first few chapters of this book--broader in scope and clearer in message.
May 16, 2023
Reading for work, hoping to get a maths-light insight into approaches to trend forecasting. It turned out this was more a history of attempts to predict the future, with an eye to identify what makes such predictions seem compelling at the time - mostly ignoring whether or not they proved to be accurate. This is kinda interesting, but there was little new (to me) here.
The final chapter's summary of key aspects of convincing predictions was a solid overview, though - but could be read in a few minutes with no real need for the rest of the book, kinda fun as it is.
The final chapter's summary of key aspects of convincing predictions was a solid overview, though - but could be read in a few minutes with no real need for the rest of the book, kinda fun as it is.
February 22, 2019
An interesting philosophical book with each chapter exploring different facets on how the future has been, and is today, thought about by visionaries, artists and the general public. The writing was a little uneven as if each chapter had been written at different times and for other purposes. But it thematically held together and there were enough nuggets of fact and ponderings to keep my mind noodling for (wait for it... wait for it) the foreseeable future.
May 18, 2019
I liked the start of the book, and exploring different ways people have thought about the future over time. But then, the book got into the weeds of a few specific computer technologies and moved away from how society was thinking about the future at large. More on the role of research labs, government initiatives, and movies in shaping the future would have been appreciated. This view felt very narrow to just one specific corner of computer science.
April 14, 2019
I like the writing style but found the book inconsistent with its treatment of future. Clearly a vast challenging subject but the author chooses to look at it from a limited set of views without fully explaining any one in particular.
Overall I think the problem is the format, its impossible to address a subject as vast in a small booklet.
Overall I think the problem is the format, its impossible to address a subject as vast in a small booklet.
November 4, 2019
On its own, this was a solid, thought-provoking read. It didn't spur me on to invent the next internet, but it had me thinking in some different terms. Within the context of reading this shortly after Chuck Klosterman's "But What If We're Wrong," this book had me thinking about the contrasting themes of making the future and how to be remembered, and how they interact.
September 9, 2018
Pretty dry. Forced myself to get through several chapters.
August 27, 2019
A curious perspective on the future, that brings new ideas and makes you think in different ways.
October 19, 2018
A fine retrospective about how we viewed the future at different times throughout civilization. Nothing spectacular.
February 18, 2022
Рассказ о будущем, основанный на историях восприятия будущего людьми прошлого. Мне показалось, что этот текст написала нейросеть. К слову, прочитал в аннотации, что автор увлекается созданием текстовых генераторов. Совпадение? Не думаю.
November 23, 2022
говно какое-то
February 12, 2021
lol it's not long at least
chapter 1: differences between 'future predicting and future making' -- [Seth: this is boring and pedantic, but hes laying a groundwork]
chapter 2 - 'Origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind' [Seth: yeah I've been meaning to read that book (after reading some much better summaries, such as Scott Alexander's) -- the connection to 'future orientation' seems a bit weak though and under-theorized]
chapter 3 - utopias and distopias [Seth: yay he's reminding me of lots of books I've liked without adding new insights; some weird choices of which to focus on though -- and completely shits on Bellamy's book despite that being the obviously most successful one? Now I want to read that book btw]
chapter 4 - Futurama [Seth: lovingly described, very clear he should have just written an article about how much he loves worlds fair stuff -- no real insights but plenty of fun anecdotes]
chapter 5-6 a worse version of "dream machine"
chapter 7: stuff that reminds of the phrase 'mirror, darkly' [Seth: Yes ofc 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Black Mirror' are great, but you completely miss their points. and saying a random corning ad was more effective than Bellamy's book????]
chapter 8: conclusions [Seth: Vapid platitudes]
anyway saved you the 4 hours
chapter 1: differences between 'future predicting and future making' -- [Seth: this is boring and pedantic, but hes laying a groundwork]
chapter 2 - 'Origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind' [Seth: yeah I've been meaning to read that book (after reading some much better summaries, such as Scott Alexander's) -- the connection to 'future orientation' seems a bit weak though and under-theorized]
chapter 3 - utopias and distopias [Seth: yay he's reminding me of lots of books I've liked without adding new insights; some weird choices of which to focus on though -- and completely shits on Bellamy's book despite that being the obviously most successful one? Now I want to read that book btw]
chapter 4 - Futurama [Seth: lovingly described, very clear he should have just written an article about how much he loves worlds fair stuff -- no real insights but plenty of fun anecdotes]
chapter 5-6 a worse version of "dream machine"
chapter 7: stuff that reminds of the phrase 'mirror, darkly' [Seth: Yes ofc 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Black Mirror' are great, but you completely miss their points. and saying a random corning ad was more effective than Bellamy's book????]
chapter 8: conclusions [Seth: Vapid platitudes]
anyway saved you the 4 hours
September 12, 2022
粗略翻閱寫有跳過幾個章節
書名寫 The Future，且作者常用到 future-making 的用字，
但我翻到的內容涵蓋的是古人的世界觀、先知的概念、世博的演進等等說明未來這個概念的歷史
還能說不算是離題（雖然不是我想看的）
而後面又提到網路的發明
我難以理解作者想表達的內容
--
說到世博，以前去過愛知萬國博覽會
唯一有留下印象的技術是二維條碼（QR碼），外觀跟現在的一樣，只是當時是用專用的機器去判讀，想不到現在會變成出門一趟就要用到n次的東西
書名寫 The Future，且作者常用到 future-making 的用字，
但我翻到的內容涵蓋的是古人的世界觀、先知的概念、世博的演進等等說明未來這個概念的歷史
還能說不算是離題（雖然不是我想看的）
而後面又提到網路的發明
我難以理解作者想表達的內容
--
說到世博，以前去過愛知萬國博覽會
唯一有留下印象的技術是二維條碼（QR碼），外觀跟現在的一樣，只是當時是用專用的機器去判讀，想不到現在會變成出門一趟就要用到n次的東西
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews