possibility studies
Future Design Inquiries. September 2024
We cannot know when the time will be ripe for any particular idea. The task of creators is to keep options alive and open and not to be too constrained by the limitations of a present that may be suddenly transformed—by a depression, war, a dramatic collapse of political trust, or a pandemic.
Geoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
What changes the world in the end is the generative ideas, not the detailed blueprints. But the blueprints are useful tools for thinking with—they help to clarify ideas and can show unexpected consequences. Developing them is part of being positively engaged with the world. It’s easy to be against things and easy to be a critic; much harder to offe
... See moreGeoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
“The best way to be superhuman is to do things that you love with other people who love them, too.” - Cory Doctorow, Walkaway
WORLDBUILDING: Multiplayer collaging the future
What I love about the idea of scenius is that it makes room in the story of creativity for the rest of us: the people who don’t consider ourselves geniuses. Being a valuable part of a scenius is not necessarily about how smart or talented you are, but about what you have to contribute—the ideas you share, the quality of the connections you make, an... See more
Further Notes on Scenius
"Isn’t it telling that in modern usage the realist has become synonymous with the cynic–for someone with a pessimistic outlook? In truth, it’s the cynic who’s out of touch." (from "Humankind: A Hopeful History" by Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore, Elizabeth Manton)
Rutger Brenan says: “You may be dismissed as gullible and naive at first. But remember, what’s naive today may be common sense tomorrow. It’s time for a new realism. It’s time for a new view of humankind.”
"“To be aware of . . . the market of competing dreams is quite important, when we think about what kind of a new story . . . we should be able to tell,” says Indra Adnan, of the political platform Alternative UK. Indeed, we must urgently transition from our current provincial, chauvinistic, and hierarchical nightmare to a planetary vision of human
... See moreThat we are more at home among familiar ideas is very apparent, though these ideas are so normalised that we often fail to see them as products of human imagination at all. Much of daily life depends on our ability to believe in things that are, essentially, fictions.