Purposes of future studies

To help to obtain the best the future has to offer, and to avoid the worst. The most general purpose of future studies is to maintain, or improve, the freedom of all living beings, plants, and Earth’s biosphere in general for their own sakes, even beyond what is required for human well-being. Futurists explore alternative futures – the possible, the probable, and the preferable in order to maintain or improve human well-being and the life-sustaining capacities of the Earth, the futurist's distinctive contribution being prospective thinking.