Long Conversation 15 of 19 | Stuart Candy and Katherine Fulton

TL;DR

This conversation explores the challenges of engaging people in thinking about the long-term future and discusses experiments in immersive scenarios and experiential futuring.

Transcript

[Applause] all right I'm gonna match you notebook for notebook oh I'm gonna run out of hands but that's all right so I was sitting listening to the life in other places and and and the bottom up power of Wikimedia and I wondered whether we ought to talk about how to make life better here and and it made me think about the election that we're in you... Read More

Key Insights

• 🤙 The Hawaii Research Center for Future Studies was established in 1971 after a broad-based futuring exercise called Hawaii 2000, but its impact was overshadowed by crisis management during the oil crisis in 1973.
• 🎁 Engaging people in discussions about the far future is challenging because urgent, present-day issues take precedence in their daily lives.
• ❓ Experiential scenarios and immersive experiences can make discussions about the future more compelling and concrete.
• 💱 Fear of change and threats to personal investments can prevent individuals and organizations from exploring alternative futures and implementing necessary changes.
• 😨 Experiential scenarios offer a safe space to confront fears and facilitate the exploration of different futures.
• 🍉 Bringing futures into people's everyday lives is crucial to bridge the gap between short-term concerns and long-term thinking.
• ⛔ Crisis management often hinders proactive planning and limits the ability to shape the desired future.

Questions & Answers

Q: What were some of the experiments conducted to engage people in discussing the future?

One experiment involved immersive experiences in which participants could spend time in different versions of the year 2050 and then discuss their future priorities and expectations based on these experiences. Another experiment involved sending postcards and displaying artifacts from alternative futures in public spaces to spark conversations.

Q: Why is it important to bring futures into people's everyday lives rather than relying on workshops and participant-led discussions?

Not enough people are willingly opting into conversations about the future, so it becomes necessary to address them directly in their daily lives. By integrating futures thinking into their everyday experiences, it becomes more accessible and helps bridge the gap between urgent, present-day issues and long-term thinking.

Q: What were the limitations of scenario thinking and how have they been addressed?

One limitation was the difficulty of getting people who have invested years into certain futures to consider alternative scenarios that might challenge or undermine their life's work. The fear of survival can hinder the exploration of alternative futures. Addressing this, immersive experiences and experiential scenarios were designed to create a safe space for conversations and experiences that could motivate the emotional side of thinking about the future.

Q: How do experiential scenarios help in preparing for the future?

Experiential scenarios allow people to be surprised in a controlled environment rather than being blindsided by reality. It gives them the opportunity to proactively move towards the future they desire and to develop strategies to navigate uncertain situations.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Hawaii Research Center for Future Studies was established in 1971 after a year-long futuring exercise called Hawaii 2000, but the forward-thinking initiative lost momentum due to an oil crisis in 1973.

• In 2005, a planning process began in Hawaii to have a statewide conversation about the future with a focus on sustainability and the year 2050.

• Experiential scenario experiments were conducted to make the discussion of the far future more compelling, concrete, and present for people.