Foresight: Exploring the structure of the future

Abstract The past is a dangerous predictor of the future. Fortunately, there is a structure to the present which contains the building blocks of the future. The future casts a shadow on the present when we see it as possibility rather than as an extension in time. The world can be viewed as a system of non-linear cause and effect, referred to as ‘emergent’, which sees relationships as the source of foresight. This emergent perspective suggests that foresight is a matter of interpretation, that there are tools of competence and that our ability to explore it is an organizational matter.