Dr. Tom Lombardo

Human nature is not a fixed reality, but transformative and evolving. Our minds, our personal identities, our capacities and desires, and our values and ideals will change in the future.

A combination of many factors will influence the future evolution of human psychology. Human nature will evolve with changes and advances in technology, science, education, and cultural belief systems. The whole process of psychological evolution though will have a self-directed quality, involving the purposeful and value driven use of new developments occurring in society. In response to having to adapt to changes in the world, we will guide our future evolution.

As just a few possibilities, brain research will eventually provide knowledge for remedying present psychological problems and enhancing existing mental capabilities; biotechnology and genetics research will similarly offer ways to both address current mental problems and augment skills and abilities; advances in psychology will provide approaches for improving mental health; developments in information technology and brain/computer interfaces will also enhance and enrich the mental and social lives of our psyches; and increasing complexity in our everyday lives and the social structure of our world (e.g., globalization and multi-cultural interaction) will motivate people to become more adaptive, creative, multi-faceted, and broad-minded in their attitudes, mindset, and self-identity.

It is critical to our future that our mental abilities, our sense of self, our values and ideals, and our capacities to interact constructively with each other evolve along with our technologies and material systems. There are many factors though that could inhibit or disrupt our future psychological evolution, and thus, a strong and purposeful effort must be made through education, psychology, social and ethical development, and the thoughtful use of new technologies to facilitate our mental and emotional growth.  

Dr. Tom Lombardo... professional snapshot -

Tom is a graduate of the Universities of Connecticut and Minnesota and a graduate fellow of Cornell University. He has been teaching college courses and providing workshops on the future for the last dozen years. He is a regular contributor to the World Future Society conventions and his most recent publications “Evolving Future Consciousness through the Pursuit of Virtue” and “The Value of Future Consciousness” have been published in the annual World Future Society Anthologies Thinking Creatively in Turbulent Times and Foresight, Innovation, and Strategy.

He is a professional member of the World Future Society and the World Future Study Federation, an Affiliate of Communities for the Future and the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, an Educational Advisory Board member of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, and a member of Contact. He is presently working on a multi-volume study of the future.

His Web site The Odyssey of the Future contains a wealth of informational resources on the study of the future. In collaboration with the Acceleration Studies Foundation, Tom will be starting a Future Salon for the Phoenix metro area this fall. His main areas of interest, the last couple of years, have been ethics and values in the future, the pursuit of wisdom, the future of education, the future of psychology, and science fiction.

Dr. Lombardo may be reached at  Tlombardo1@cox.net