"My first acquaintance with the work of Dr. Fred Polak came in the year 1954—5, when we were both fellows at the new Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Dr. and Mrs. Polak lived in a little house at the back of the garden of the house that the Bouldings rented and participated very cheerfully in the life of the Bouldings and their four young children. Many exciting things came out of that year at Stanford, such as the Society for General Systems Research and the Journal of Conflict Resolution. But looking back on the expérience after nearly twenty years, I think the most important impact on the thought of both Elise Boulding and myself were the many conversations that we had with the Polaks around the dining table and in the garden."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the NetherlandsSystems scientistsPeople from AmsterdamPoliticians from the NetherlandsSociologists from the Netherlands
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Kenneth Boulding (1973) in: Foreword of The Image of the Future.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fred_Polak
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Fred Polak
Frederik Lodewijk Polak (May 21, 1907 – September 17, 1985) was a Dutch sociologist, politician and futurist. He was one of the Dutch founding fathers of futures studies, perhaps best known in the field for theorising the central role of imagined alternative futures in his classic work The Image of the Future.
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Fred Polak →
Related Quotes
"As the reader is aware, at the cradle of our learning stood the philosophy of Asia Minor and Greece, itself influence…"
"My own philosophical position, if I may put it that way, is very briefly as follows:"
":(1) I think about the future, therefore I am and can be a human being;"
":(2) The future is partly knowable for man: thinking back = thinking forward;"
":(3) Anyone who ponders the future will learn that this is still open to a considerable extent that can be further de…"
":(4) Determining one’s own destiny implies two things: ready acceptance of a stewardship for the future and of the du…"
":(5) Everyone must therefore be able to have access, as soon and as completely as possible, to all available data for…"
":(6) For this purpose everyone, choosing in complete freedom and on his own responsibility, must be able and permitte…"
":(7) Thought models, or models of the future, are useful insofar as they can reasonably contribute towards the optimu…"
"Modern technology could advance to the point at which social engineers would be true masters of a complete conformist…"