Since the beginning of humankind, scientists, philosophers, academics and just everyday people have liked nothing more than to theorize and speculate about the future. This is as true today as it ever was, but perhaps what has changed is our understanding that the future is ours to shape and craft. The huge changes that the world has seen over the past century make this a particularly tantalizing subject. Technology is advancing at such a pace that things we take for granted today would have seemed like science fiction just 20 years ago. At the same time, the world faces an…