Is Negative Futurology a formal academic pursuit?

Question

Now that Futurology is a recognized discipline and various types of futurologists have been defined many scientists indulge in negative futurology, though they don't call it that.

This leads me to wonder if the study of What Isn't Going To Happen is now a preoccupation in the scientific academy.

Futurology certainly has a lot of attractions insofar as agenda-driven grants for specific research.

Is there a potential for a similar lucrative field of Negative Futurology to emerge as a means of balancing the findings of grant-agenda driven Futurologists?

http://www.accelerationwatch.com/futuristdef.html

Answer 1

Futurology, what a way to say "Guess what I am thinking"  You happen to be someone that I would like to talk to, for the things you are interested in can be studied.  I watched the new History Channel on the UFO hunters.  Funny that they went right next door to me.  My father was here after the war.  I was sucking down the ground water from that UFO crash two weeks before the Roswell insodent.  We knew all of the stories and speculations in the 1960's through right now!  I watch these people talking about the Air -crash after they saw a UFO dumping in our water.  I am FROM that place!  My father, and anyone living here in 1947.  GO to Goggle maps.  I am the Department of Developement and Research 1986...but I was raised in the milk..of fantasy!  The Army took me.  I have paper work from them!  The connection is obviouse.

Answer 2

I had to look up futurology to know what you're talking about. I added my link below.

Will it become a formal academic pursuit? I think it already has. For just about any area of research, like meteorology, geology, psychology, etc., it is important to be able to predict with some accuracy would the future state of the system is based on current conditions. This seems to satisfy the definition of "futurology" to me.

Answer 3

It is possible, but there are some trivialities to overcome. Grant-agenda driven pursuits need to be extensively formal and have stringent peer-reviews. The key is that the research contributes something towards the overall development. We need to think if finding what isn't going to happen can do this.