Kuala Lampur, May 3 -- Futures studies has often been treated as an intellectual luxury-something produced by a small circle of thinkers and consumed by policymakers at the top.

This perception is no longer sustainable.

In a world defined by overlapping crises-from artificial intelligence to climate instability and geopolitical fragmentation-the discipline must be recast as a practical tool for society at large.

The evolution of futures thinking can be traced to early pioneers such as Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler. Their landmark work, Future Shock, captured the anxiety of a world accelerating beyond human adaptability.

Published at the dawn of the information age, the book argued that technological and social change could overwhelm...