A Question

[forsyth]

What kind of future do you want to live in? What does it look like? How does it happen? What does it mean? How does it smell? What does it sound like?

Not the kind of future you think we're headed to, or the future you dread, the future you want to live in. I want to define win conditions, a thread of an idea I stole from WorldChanging.

Comments

I want my flying car!

[vanmojo.livejournal.com]

Okay... enough of that. You seem to be asking in earnest, so I will answer in earnest.

The future I want to live in is the one where people are engaged and smart, where ideas are currency and no one has to fear voicing an unpopular or minority opinion -- within reason.

I want a future where I can politically disagree with a friend without lining our personal space with razor wire. Civility, and no, not Amy Vanderbilt Civility, where if I use the wrong spoon for desert, I get shipped off to ettiquette Gitmo to be water boarded by Martha Stewart.

The future I want is where people read a Dilbert cartoon and laugh at the absurdity -- not the rueful truth -- of the joke.

I want a future where people are not forced into making cruel choices between absolute needs, i.e. medicine/rent, food/fuel... I get that all the baby turtles don't necessarily make it to the sea, but it shouldn't be this hard.

I want a future society finally understands kindness is not weakness, violence is not strength, cruel is not cool and cynicism is not a replacement for intellect. My future must have a strong moral compass fueled with equal parts brains, guts and compassion.

It looks a lot like a modern Halifax, Nova Scotia, but with a lot more public internet terminals and interfaces.

How does it happen? We (and by we I mean the societal we) make a decision that this is what we want. How do we make that decision? I have no idea. If I did, I would have written that post long ago...

As far as smell and sound? It smells like the green grass of Pennsic in late July and sounds a lot like now, but with more Irish music coming out of more well lit pub doors... and more beeping... yeah, likely more beeping.

Now, that's for those of us who don't make the move up-well... for those of us who choose low Earth orbit, there are some other adjustments to be made...

mojo sends

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I want a future where the CVs of celebrities and politicians are scrutinized for what, and when, they personally taught other people. Where teaching and learning are considered personal triumphs over and above the number of crashed Ferraris or sex scandals. Where it's considered normal and admirable to take a year or two off in the middle of your career, and again after retirement, to go teach your specialty.

Where the average person is trained in philosophy, logic, basic mathematics, diversity, groupthink identification, and marketing psychology. Where claims of all stripes are coolly assessed against data and the practices of attacking, bullying, and threatening other humans are abhorrent.

Where all public data is unrestricted and we live with the consequences of that.

Where the very concept of a nation seems quaint and antiquated.

Where travel anywhere is free and unrestricted, and people can express any opinion without centralised censorship or censure.

Where marketing is confined to "pull" channels, and industries which sustain themselves through the process of irritating people are illegal or easily filtered from the daily experience.

Where the basics of human existence are free and in plentiful supply - air, water, food, shelter, education, communication, medical, birth control.