ABSTRACT
With the successive introduction of electronic tabulation and counting machines, followed by mainframe computers, databases, spreadsheets, and a phalanx of data visualization programmes, generations of public and private sector infonauts have gazed at their new flickering lights, screens, and interfaces, and uttered the mantra for our time-travelling age: ‘What if …’. And while Wall Street investment firms warn investors against taking ‘forward looking statements’ as fact – albeit in small print – such new technologies have seemingly provided a compelling, consequence-free vision of the future. In other words, in advance of acting or making key organizational, political or economic decisions, we can now ponder computer-generated answers to our questions about the future: What if we reduce taxes? What if we increase production? What if we lay off half our workers? What if …
