The future is constricted ‘in time' by the planning of longer-term intentions. It contains both: the symbolic construct which consists in the shifting of the drawing up of the boundary of time, and the real anticipations made by planning, by decisions about financing, and by action in organization, which are established in the extended present. Because the relation between present and future shifts, the future can be put into operation – in the present. The longer-term interdependences begin to take shape. The limited understanding in the recognition of problems and the equally limited means of mastering them which are available today likewise refer to the period of time lying immediately ahead, and not to a distant future. With the mounting pressure that solutions to impending, recognizable problems have to be found now, and with the ticking of the many clocks which have installed warning signals, there does not remain enough time to accommodate them in a moment conceived as fleeting, or to consign them to the amnesia of the future. The future of our children is no longer predominantly interpreted in individual terms – as the desire for social advancement and well-being – but as a question of collective survival. It is the time of the next generation which is being argued about now. The dramatic increase in complexity and density draws the future closer to the present – not just for the conscientious manager who already enters appointments in next year's calendar. This is also true of the calendar of societies. The years 2000 or 2025 are almost within reach.14 A loan is raised on a future by the latter being fetched into an extended present, in the hope that the present will suffice to yield the requisite interest - and the added value - needed for repayment. The future is disposed of as if it were the present, and an extended present is thereby produced.
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From the Future to the Extended Present