A person who studies or predicts the future; also, an artist or writer associated with the futurism movement of the early 20th century.
From future + -ist suffix; originally describing adherents of the Futurist movement founded by Marinetti in 1909.
Modern 'futurists' like Ray Kurzweil or Yuval Harari have become celebrities for their future predictions, but they're operating in a different tradition than 1920s futurist painters—and interestingly, they're usually much more cautious about declaring one single future as inevitable.
The term 'futurist' became synonymous with the male-dominated Futurist movement, obscuring women practitioners and reinforcing the association of 'future-thinking' with masculine aggression and violence.
Use 'futurist' descriptively (one who thinks about futures), but when referencing the movement, distinguish between male Futurists and women artists working in or against that tradition.
["future-oriented thinker","visionary","speculative artist"]
Women futurists and speculative thinkers like Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and Benedetta Carra shaped how we imagine possible futures—their contributions must be centered.
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