UNESCO World Futures Day and My New New Year's Resolutions
Walter Dario Di Mantova
Founder, The GEN Lab | Defiant Humanist l Postdisciplinary Technologist | Anticipatory Anthropologist
There are so many different dates societies celebrate the New Year.?
Most familiar is the global January 1 of the Gregorian calendar, but there is also the Chinese New Year between 01.21 and 02.21, in Iran the New Year (Nowruz) is usually 03.20 or 03.21, in Nepal between 04.12–04.15 April, and Neyrouz, the Coptic New Year, is usually 08.29.?
Even a New Year of the French Revolutionary Calendar, in force from 1793 to 1805 and briefly under the Paris Commune in 1871, occurred on the Southward equinox on 22, 23, or 24 September (thanks Wikipedia).?
But today is December 2, #UNESCO #World #Futures Day, part of an initiative “to promote inclusive and #transdisciplinary discussions on futures, underscoring the urgency to use foresight to secure a more #sustainable future for all and foster a culture of anticipation at all levels for the #UN Sustainable Development Goals”.
I’ve decided from now to make December 2 the beginning of my new New Year’s Day.?
As an Associate Member of the UNESCO-Affiliated?World Futures Studies Federation and someone who has learned so much from fellow #futurists around the world, this makes some sense. So does having a new set of the traditional resolutions which most of us make (and miss).?
Here they are:
1. More strongly promulgate the truth that the ability to anticipate is a #human right.?
2. Avoid techno-fetishism and idolatry, along with adoration of the mechanical and the digital, even though a new Tesla would be great…
3. Even more fully understand and share that #futuring is a #political activity (even with the potential to be a subversive one), and that #futuresthinking, and #futuresliteracy, must be matched with futures action (including the occasional boycotting of events sponsored by #authoritarian governments).
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4. Work to shape the future and not just anticipate it.
5. Distrust my own sense of expertise and experience. Both can be quite a trap.?
6. Learn to love #mess. Although we can all seek structure to feel secure, there is a bit of #liberation in mashing things up, and the future is going to be beautiful – if challenging—mess.
7. Make sure that you are courageous enough to induce your own discomfort—the future will need a lot of bravery and risk.?
8. Act more forcefully to turn futuring into a collective activity, especially with the “wrong people at the table”.??
9. Be quiet – you learn more that way.
10. And, of course, the typical: remember to hydrate, eat healthy food, exercise, and try to find the right headshot that does not make you look like a criminal, an insurance salesman, or both.
Now I could have chosen January 8th, the date when the first Episode of Breaking Bad was broadcast or some other date of global importance but that would be…trivial.