Fables by Futurists

Most of us find it easier to digest ideas in the form of narratives,

The ideas that travel furthest are the ones that find companions, partner ideas with which they resonate.

In other words, ideas work best when they echo parts of this social or political unconscious—shared but hidden views of hope and fear.

ideas that spread in part because of their fuzziness and simplicity.

A much bigger impact has come from generative ideas—ideas that spawn many other ideas. These don’t need to be precise. Quite the opposite, in fact. The more imprecise the idea, the more chance it has of evolving and spreading.

The most influential ideas tend to be quite simple: generative concepts that can spark multiple interpretations and adaptations.

Pioneers of ideas and pioneers of practice are complementary Imaginers have to find collaborators—doers, organisers, regularisers—if their ideas are to be more than imaginary. The collaborators’ job is to turn poetry into prose; theology and prophecy into ritual; compassion into organised generosity; mercy into justice. It involves testing and expe

Stories endure if they contain content that resonates, and not just truths; fantasies (like Cinderella) also have the capability to last.

Myths, fairy tales, and archetypal stories give us a sense of cohesion because we recognize the patterns, even unconsciously, as bone-deeply familiar. Stories serve to remind us that whatever difficulties we might be experiencing have been encountered many times before. We are not alone; we are connected to an ancestral storehouse of experience, an