Science
@
Work
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is unlikely to bore
you or himself. He studies and writes about
people and technology—fascinating stuff.
Sometimes he’s researching, lecturing,
and teaching on these topics at Stanford
University in California, where he is a visiting
scholar. Pang also runs a company that
teaches others how to be less busy, but get
more done; how to rest more, yet be more
creative. But Pang’s dogs think his job is to
take them for walks.
Pang is also a futurist. In a way, futurists
are like weather forecasters. Both predict the
future, but neither needs a magic crystal ball.
Weather forecasters look at what has been
happening in the weather to predict what’ll
happen next. Futurists do something similar
for people. They look at what people have
done in the past and what they are doing
now and then make predictions about what
people will do next. Pang says he’s “thinking
about the future of science and how big
forces are going to affect science, technology,
and innovation.”AUTHOR AND FUTURIST