I’m one of those who winces at the word “Futurist”. It was cool to see a title like “Visual Futurist” up on the screen next to an industrial designer’s name (e.g. Syd Mead), but in general the term – for me – puts pictures of tinfoil-hat-wearing alarmists in my mind’s eye. Not exactly my kind of crowd. And even my association with the SL Future Salon – and by extension the Accelerating Change folks – sometimes gives me pause. Well, the question of legitimacy is raised in this Wired article, and for anyone who visits this blog it might be worth a read. Truth is, I wouldn’t even bother posting this entry except for one sentence in the whole piece:

The APF, for example, had a recent annual meeting in Las Vegas, a venue Hines saw as appropriate for discussing the blurring boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.

Now they’re talking. Maybe I’ll actually pull for them getting some kind of system in place to legitimize the title. Until then though, I’ll probably continue to wince.