The article discusses the risks and effects of predicting the future. It describes the competition between two images of the future that can be found in current predictions. We discuss the question of changing our basic conceptions about the essence of human nature, the most important properties and qualities of people in connection with the onset of the current era of uncertainty, and the complexity and diversity of the human experience. We describe the context that surrounds the practice of predicting the future, namely the transition from the world of SPOD to the world of VUCA. The author reminds the designers of the future of the importance of correlating futurist programs with the expectations and motivational attitudes of the different social strata in Russian society. The author reviews current educational policy, and he describes the general features of the education reforms of recent decades and the risks created by their shortcomings. The article outlines the conditions for constructing a promising and human-centric model of 21st-century education ("the garden of dignity culture") for "complex free people." [Translated by Kenneth Cargill.]