This book features a selection of the published writings and public presentations of Jim Dator. Most of the chapters are directly concerned with futures studies and ideas about the futures. The topic covers many disciplines and subjects. It is also concerned with many different parts of the world, even Mars. In addition, a few of the earlier papers contained here are about more conventional topics in politics and religion.
The collection spans a more than 50 year period of thought, reflection, and instruction. In particular, the papers examine six main topics. These include meditations on the very nature of future studies, visions of preferred futures, ideas about alternative futures, and details on future theories and methods. Coverage also considers such specific topics as AI and robots, the environment, food, culture, energy, families, future generations, and more.
Overall, these papers help readers gain insight into what it takes to weave together alternative images of the future in useful ways. They also reveal cross-disciplinary patterns in key fields of human endeavor that will help readers better understand trends and emerging issues.
James Allen Dator is Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, Department of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor in the College of Architecture, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa; Co-Chair and Core Lecturer, Space Humanities, International Space University, Strasbourg, France; Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Futures Strategy, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Daejeon, Korea, and former President, World Futures Studies Federation. He is editor-in-chief of the World Futures Review. He also taught in the College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (Tokyo, for six years), the University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, the University of Toronto, and the InterUniversity Consortium for Postgraduate Studies in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia.
He received a BA in Ancient and Medieval History and Philosophy from Stetson University, an MA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Political Science from The American University. He did post-graduate work at Virginia Theological Seminary (Ethics and Church History), Yale University (Japanese Language), The University of Michigan (Linguistics and Quantitative Methods), Southern Methodist University (Mathematical Applications in Political Science).
