ABSTRACT
Georgescu-Roegen argued that instead of asking what the future will be we should reflect on what we want the future to be. The idea behind this reasoning is interesting when we see it in the light of Merton's reflections on self-fulfilling prophecies. Owing to the positive feedback between belief and behavior, any prediction about the future causes itself to become true. The first part of Merton's theorem provides a reminder that we do not only respond to the objective features of a situation but also to the meaning this situation has for one. In harmony with this reasoning, Giddens emphasized that our behavior is affected by how we interpret the world surrounding onr. To make any substantial changes we have to look at utopian narratives. Any definition of a future situation affects our behavior today because it becomes an integral part of the present. As long as the definitions stay rooted within the existing ideology only marginal changes are possible.
