THE FUTURE DOES NOT EXIST

As some of you may know, I’ve been deeply immersed in a fascinating project lately, working as part of the organizing team for the ‘futures’ congress, PRIMER EU 2019, which takes place this October 17-18th in Madrid.

And given that many of you have asked what it’s all about, I’ll share with you an article that I wrote a few weeks ago for the spanish magazine "LaMuy", as an introductory text for those who’ve never heard of Future Studies.

THE FUTURE DOES NOT EXIST

… So, neither does the past?

What does ‘exist’ even mean?

Don’t worry, we won’t be getting all transcendental in this article, I just thought this was a good way to begin to question everything that arrives to us as an affirmation in this day and age, as an immutable truth, as fact. 

Our goal here is to stop and reflect, critically, at least for a moment, on what we know about the future.

What is the future? Can it be predicted? Can it be studied? Can we influence it through our own individual actions?

These questions, and more, have been on our minds or present in our collective imagination since the beginning of civilization in one form or another. The foundation for these questions is our desire, and our need, to remove uncertainty, to be able to control and to anticipate events, to infer what might happen tomorrow, next month or next year.

So if we think about the future in 50-100 years, what images come to mind? Are they unique new ideas or maybe they’ve been influenced by the imagery of Black Mirror?

At the same time, if a large enough group of people shares a specific image of the future, is this idea of the future more likely to come to pass?

And finally, who decides which ideas about the future will be shared, which will be seen by the mainstream, or become the most influential?

And while we’re on the topic, let’s take a look at the concept of hyperstition, which I first heard about from Jorge Camacho*, summed up well by the author of the blog “The Industry of Power” (in Spanish, La Industria del Poder): “The self-fulfilling prophecy, narratives that propose a specific future as inevitable and that are accepted as true by the societies they are directed to end up becoming reality. The most extensive example of hyperstitious behavior is the stock market. As soon as a rumor hits that the market will drop tomorrow, the prediction ends up coming true as investors accept that the prediction is more likely. This concept shows the inherent creative power of an argument.”

That said, if the images of the future that currently reside in our subconscious minds are dystopic, negative, and held by the majority, and almost imposed on us by one type of profile, they’re from a privileged, western, capitalist (Hollywood and/or Silicon Valley) and mainly male background., What I mean to say is if the common imagery of the future comes from only one context, with little diversity, are we also doomed to a single and not so diverse future? Is this the future by default?

Have you ever stopped to wonder about how people in different cultures, countries and with different beliefs see the future? How do different minorities think about it?

These considerations are present nowadays as everything seems to move ever faster, we live in a rapidly accelerating, always advancing world that prioritizes innovation and technology, leaving critical thinking, reflections on unintended consequences, and ethical or moral dilemmas to the wayside.

THE FUTURE IS TRENDING

In recent years, interest in Future Studies and thinking about the future has surged. From public institutions such as the UNESCO with the “Futures Literacy” initiative to the OECD, even respected media outlets are getting in the game, like The Economist with their “What if” series and the BBC Futures.

Aside from science fiction, there is also speculative design, critical design and future artifacts. The goal of these concepts is to bring critical thinking about the future to the present through objects, stories, images and theatrical representations, basically any form of communication is valid as long as it awakens considerations that have yet to be taken into account.

Some examples of speculative design can be found in the IKEA Catalog from the future proposed by The Near Future Laboratory, Superflux speculatives videos or the “Pure Human” prototype by Tina Gorjanc, consisting of a leather jacket and backpack made from human DNA. These objects connect with the present and help us imagine possible future scenarios while raising questions. Interesting, and necessary, ethical reflections about where we are headed can help us decide if we really want to follow certain paths and trends or if we must, to the contrary, begin to take decisions or make choices for other more desirable futures by modifying our actions in the present.

FUTURES DESIGN

We’ve already said that the future doesn’t exist but can we design the future? Can we make our more desirable future more likely to pass?

And above all, we must also ask, what is the most desirable? Is what we find desirable the most ethical and inclusive? And more importantly, for whom is it desirable?

Of course, I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I do consider them to be a wonderful starting point for reflection. They can also help us be more aware that our actions have consequences and that there is no single future that we should head towards, or that we should be forced into. Rather, we must think critically about who dictates the imagery of the future, why they do so, to what end and for whom.

And this is one of the objectives of PRIMER EU, for society to begin to ask questions, to critically reflect on and to learn different visions of “futures for all”, and how we can help to co-create them in an inclusive, humble and respectful way. You can find all the information at www.primerconference.eu

*As I said, the first person I heard talk of hyperstitions was Jorge Camacho, strategic designer, teacher and consultant on strategic foresight. Specifically, he asked us to create “hipersticiones chingonas" (badass hyperstitions), or simply put, shared futures, non-dystopic, more inclusive and diverse. We will have the privilege to hear from him in person at PRIMER EU :)