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FUTUREHUNTING AND HISTORYHACKING | 3 Carry a Notebook; Time Is a Tricky Business James H. Carrott and Brian David Johnson (Seattle, WA and Portland, OR) You might be surprised to learn that a historian and a futurist are a lot alike. We’ve discovered some downright eerie similarities in the way we work, investigate ideas, and talk about our findings (heck, even in the jokes we make along the way). You might say that we both deal in what’s “not now.” But that’s not really what makes our work similar. It has to do with pattern recognition and the study of change, but at the gut level—where it means the most—it’s probably the fact that we both have to live every day with the ginormous paradox inherent in our work: in truth, it’s always now. When the future and the past are your bread and butter, you need a healthy sense of humor. You know, the kind that comes equipped with a well-developed appreciation for irony—which, theology and physics aside, all too often seems to be the prime moving force behind the whole darn thing. Time is a tricky business. For Brian—our futurist—the future is always in motion. The future is made every day by the actions of people. Anyone who tries to “predict” the future isn’t respecting its complexity. (They are also probably trying to sell you something – Beware!) As a part of his research Brian jets out around the globe futurehunting; looking for early examples of the future happening today. The future might always be in motion but you can find it and watch it play out, exploring how it will affect people, culture and technology. Partway through our research, James turned to Brian and said something like: “You’re always talking about the future being in motion—that all we really need to have is a vision for the kind of future we want to live in. You realize that the past is the same way, right? The past is always in motion.” At which point there was probably some head nodding, likely accompanied by the more patient variant of Brian’s “James, I’m humoring you—get to the point” look. James then got to the point: “History lives in our heads; it’s always changing. If we have to ask ourselves what kind of future we want to create, we also have to ask ourselves what kind of past we want to be from.” Brian probably yelled, “That’s brilliant!” and then we moved on—but the point, having been “gotten to,” had been well and clearly established. History is always in motion. It’s something we experience and share with living minds and bodies.
4 | STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EMBEDDED HISTORIAN’S NOTEBOOK A notebook and a driving Victorian house. What more could a historian possibly need? (photo courtesy of Andy Pischalnikoff)
Page 1 and 2: AN EMBEDDED HISTORIAN’S NOTEBOOK
Page 3 and 4: STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EMBEDDE
Page 6: Futurehunting and Historyhacking |
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Page 15 and 16: Greg Broadmore (photo courtesy of S
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Page 44 and 45: Index A Armadillo (movie), 29 B Bro
Page 46: About the Authors James H. Carrott

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