Should we think of this as a call to hold memory differently? To treat partial attempts as evidence? To build futures that are less about what can be launched, and more about what is allowed to continue?

If rehearsal is how futures are sustained under conditions of uncertainty, then institutional foresight needs to recalibrate. By recognising the kind of work that doesn’t deliver in obvious ways. The kind of work that stays with the unfinished, carries partial attempts forward, and keeps futures in motion even when there’s no end in sight.

This doesn’t mean institutions are unwilling. Many are trying. But most are structured for proof, not persistence. They look for inflection points, but barely ever look for continuities. They seek to demonstrate influence, and let go of what’s unresolved. As a result, the very practices that make long-term futures possible, the slow, the subtle, th... See more