possibility studies
by Keely Adler · updated 1d ago
possibility studies
by Keely Adler · updated 1d ago
societies that become too specialised, or too optimised in a particular way, are likely to struggle when conditions change. That is just as true if they seem to be doing well, since history never stands still. In this sense, imagination is functional rather than a luxury. It generates possibilities and keeps them alive.
Keely Adler added 1mo ago
Collectively, we also need pictures of societal futures that go beyond today’s status quo. They complement but do not replace the necessary work of activism that fights against the injustices of the present. We also need new answers to new problems—the vulnerabilities caused by a more connected world, or by potentially lethal artificial intelligenc
... See moreKeely Adler added 1mo ago
Keely Adler added 1mo ago
To truly find new narratives (and therefore new ways of being, doing, thinking) it is not a question of simply imagining these narratives per se, since that is almost an impossible task on its own. Instead we need to understand what is keeping us from taking a look at the impossible in the first place. What are the blind spots or voices of reason t
... See moreKeely Adler added 1mo ago
History can get stuck and can go into reverse. Powerful interests will do whatever they can to resist, divert, confuse or disrupt trends that they find threatening. Imagination is one of the weapons with which to confront them—imagination that is compelling, rigorous and thought through.
Keely Adler added 1mo ago
Our relationship to the possible is grounded in action in and on the world. This also means that it is mediated by a variety of material and symbolic tools, including a range of technologies. As such, human culture is both the origin and outcome of our engagement with the possible. Cultural processes are, in this sense, helping us navigate, as indi
... See moreKeely Adler added 1mo ago
Experiences of the possible transform the self . The fact that humans can pretend things are not what they are, reimagine the past, envision multiple futures and conceive the impossible, are all transformative experiences.
Keely Adler added 1mo ago
‘exploratory social science’.
Keely Adler added 1mo ago
Real possibility, however, is a potentiality that is live precisely because it is rooted in the material here and now (unlike either faux or formal possibilities). Importantly, real possibility can open onto the past just as much as onto the future. The present has the potential to be curiously disrupted along both its edges: the “forward-dawning”
... See moreKeely Adler added 1mo ago