MODERN FUTURISM

Please visit:

 

English:

http://www.ghandchi.com/347-FuturismEng.htm

 

Persian:

http://www.ghandchi.com/347-Futurism-plus.htm

 

 

******************FOOTNOTES 1994**********************

 

NOTE 1.  For more information about MODERN FUTURISM see THE FUTURE FILE (1978) by Paul Dickson and an excellent older book by Alvin Toffler called THE FUTURISTS (1972).

 

NOTE 2.  I differ with Burnham Beckwith, the futurist historian, who considers the futurist discourse a discourse from the ancient times (see his History of the Idea of Future, 1976).

 

As I have stated in the article, I think Modern Futurism is a new discourse after WWII.  Prior to that period, I think futurism has been part of the discourse of progress.  For more details on the discourse of progress, I recommend reading HISTORY OF THE IDEA OF PROGRESS by Robert Nisbit.

 

NOTE 3.  As I had noted it previously, the discourse of progress reached Iran at the time of the Constitutional Movement.

 

The discourse of progress in Europe at that time was already two CENTURIES old and it had taken roots in many realms of life.  By then, this discourse in Europe was mostly focused in the realm of politics.

 

Thus, unfortunately, the presentation of the discourse of progress in the Iranian intellectual thought was and remained essentially in the realm of politics.

 

NOTE 4....In Farsi, I use the term Ayandeh-Negar for futurist.

 

NOTE 5.  For a listing of futuristic books in different fields, order the free book catalog of World Future Society called "THE FUTURIST BOOKSTORE". (www.wfs.org)

 

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* The above article was first published in Persian in Iran Times Newspaper of Washington DC in 1987.

**This English version was written in 1994  and was first posted on SCI (soc.culture.iranian) Usenet newsgroup the same year.