on better futures

Why are we futuring to find solutions to the problems created by extrapolative, exponential, and extractive systems, when we should be futuring to imagine emerging novelty and construct transformative realities that would allow us to elevate our human, planetary, and universal experience above and beyond those systems?

“We think creatively (not predictively) about the future in order to decide what to do now in order to make possible different futures. There is no reason to be ‘future-oriented’ other than to try to change things, from now on . This means that you must be very careful when trying to ‘future’ to ensure that you are not unwittingly reproducing

Many of us have clear visions of what kind of world we don’t want to live in, but are struggling to imagine the kind of world we would live in - let alone how to build that world. We need new narratives to illuminate what’s broken in our society and hands-on solutions for a more sustainable, equal and resilient world.

𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘈𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯

The most fundamental task is to help each other to reorient our life and work through a sensibility that is prefigurative of the better aspects of our emerging future.

What incremental changes do we make to our internal algorithms to lurch our way to ever-more confident means of thriving in this world? The question is not only what injustices are you fighting against, but what do you in your heart of hearts want to create?

Bringing about the world we want to live in, the world we want to leave to our children is, substantially, the work of the imagination, or what educational reformer John Dewey describes as ‘the ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise’.18