Emerging and Future Science and Technology: Factors in Envisioning, Designing, and Implementing Hypothetical and Theoretical Transdisciplinary Systems

Science and technology have two faces: knowledge that exists and knowledge that does not yet exist-that is, 1) developments based on extrapolation of current and emerging R&D trends and 2) envisioned futures derived from imagination and Einstein's gedankenexperiment (visualized thought experiments). Those who are lured by the latter are driven by the call of the new, the open-ended diversity of the imagination, and the promise of the multivariate structure of transdisciplinarity, coupled with creativity and futurology, that generates the emergence of new science, technology, research, and hypothetical and theoretical systems (i.e., systems based on hypotheses and theories, respectively). Transdisciplinarity often addresses a wide range of domains that include not only science and technology but also economic and sociocultural sectors. However, this article (as with others) addresses abstract science, concrete science, and applied technologies. These perspectives focus on increasing presence and importance in long-term research and development; the benefits of committing to envisioning, designing, and implementing novel science and technology; the tools and techniques used to realize that commitment; and examples of domains historically considered distinct being transformed into a de novo entity.