Roy Amara

Roy Amara
Amara c. 1980
Born	Roy Charles Amara (1925-04-07)7 April 1925
Died	31 December 2007(2007-12-31) (aged 82)
Education	MIT, Harvard, Stanford
Alma mater	Stanford
Known for	Amara's law
Spouse	Margaret Frances Terestre ​ ​ (m. 1949)​
Children	3
Scientific career
Fields	Futurism
Institutions	SRI International, IFTF

Roy Charles Amara (7 April 1925¹ – 31 December 2007²) was an American researcher, scientist, futurist³ and president of the Institute for the Future best known for coining Amara's law on the effect of technology. He held a BS in Management, an MS in the Arts and Sciences, and a PhD in Systems Engineering,⁴ and also worked at the Stanford Research Institute.

His adage, coined in 1978, about forecasting the effects of technology has become known as Amara's law and states:

We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.⁵⁶⁷

The law has been used in explaining nanotechnology.⁸

The reasoning behind this quote is because of the intense reaction to the development of something new and innovative; but when that technology doesn't immediately affect our day to day lives, or there isn't a major impact in the world it is quickly forgotten about.⁹

• Amara, Roy; Boucher, Wayne I. (1977). National Science Foundation (ed.). The study of the future: an agenda for research. Washington, D.C.: General Post Office. OCLC 3200105.
• Amara, Roy; Lipinski, Andrew J. (1983). Business planning for an uncertain future: scenarios & strategies. New York: Pergamon Press. ISBN 9780080275451.
• Amara, Roy; Morrison, J. Ian; Schmid, Gregory (1988). Looking ahead at American health care. Washington, D.C.: McGraw-Hill, Healthcare Information Center. ISBN 9780070013841.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (2003). Health and health care 2010: the forecast, the challenge (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470932513.

• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1972). A framework for national science policy analysis (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 4484161. P-18. Reprinted from IEEE transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics, v. SMC-2, no. 1 January 1972
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1972). Toward a framework for national goals and policy research (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 11724396. Reprinted from IEEE Transactions on systems, man and cybernetics, v. SMC-2, no. 5 November 1972
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1972). The social responsibilities of business (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 5744644. Prepared for the White House Conference on the Industrial World Ahead, Washington, D.C., 2–9 February 1972
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1973). Draft summaries of four workshops on the social impact of the computer (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 709544477.
• Amara, Roy; Lipinski, Andrew J.; Institute for the future (1974). Strategic planning: penetrating the corporate barriers (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 4349610.
• Amara, Roy; World Future Society (1975). The next 25 years: crises and challenges (Report). Menlo Park, California: World Future Society. OCLC 3693807. P-31. Presented at the World Future Society Second General Assembly Plenary Session, June 2, 1975
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1975). Some methods of futures research (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 2456542.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1975). Emerging societal issues: some suggestions for research (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 17817243. WP-22.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1978). The U.S. in the decade ahead: an inventory of resources: American Vocational Association national convention, 4 December, 1978 (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 7527420. P-72.
• Amara, Roy; Lipinski, Hubert; Spangler, Kathleen; Institute for the future (1978). Communication needs in computer modeling (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 7511471. P-67. Published in Conference proceedings 1978 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC 1978). Pdf.¹⁰
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1978). The future of voluntarism: meeting changing societal needs (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 7293285. P-69.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1978). Planning, futures and the skeptics (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 6661254.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1978). Toward understanding the social impact of computers (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 1166342. R-29.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1980). The future of management: ten shapers of management in the '80s (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 8390527. P-80.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1980). Imperatives for tomorrow: the I's have it: images, institutions, involvement (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 7917815. P-87.
• Amara, Roy; Institute for the future (1980). The futures field (Report). Menlo Park, California: Institute for the Future. OCLC 7919207. P-95.