Futures studies (also called futurology and
futurism) is the study of postulating possible,
probable, and preferable futures and the
worldviews and myths that underlie them. There
is a debate as to whether this discipline is an art
or science. In general, it can be considered as a
branch of the social sciences and parallel to the
field of history. In the same way that history
studies the past, futures studies considers the
future. Futures studies (colloquially called
"futures" by many of the field's practitioners)
seeks to understand what is likely to continue
and what could plausibly change. Part of the
discipline thus seeks a systematic and
pattern-based understanding of past and present,
and to determine the likelihood of future events
and trends. Unlike the physical sciences where a
narrower, more specified system is studied,
futures studies concerns a much bigger and more
complex world system. The methodology and
knowledge are much less proven as compared to natural science or even social science like sociology, economics,
and political science.