By Sohail Inayatullah This essay is based on two speeches, First, for the Systems Change Alliance conference on the Beyond the Great Reset on May 16, 2021, and second for the International Conference on the World in 50 Years to honor Sakharov, June 4th, St. Petersburg. This essay first articulates the current planetary crisis. Then four alternative futures are developed. The first is the no change scenario, in which the club remains for members only. The second is the marginal change scenario, in which the club becomes more inclusive – stakeholder capitalism. The third is the adaptive scenario in which…
Author: Abril Chimal
Hosted by Mattia Vettorello The Journal of Futures Studies “Perspectives” is a space for exploring transformative ideas for social and socio-ecological change as well as challenging “used futures.” We team up with The Briefing. Today, a futures-oriented podcast that speaks to people’s curiosity to adventure in unchartered territories and desire to innovate by inclusion and diversity. The Briefing. Today as JFS Perspectives encourages to embrace an attitude toward the wonder of uncertainty and novelty to inspire creative imagination to design for sustainable futures. Its objectives are to create awareness, share, and innovate. Note: if in your country any music streaming services aren’t available please visit The…
By Rae Yule Kim Abstract Sales robots are on the way to become a common shopping experience. Sales robots are expected to perform jobs that are traditionally done by salespeople, such as answering shoppers’ questions and processing payments. A salesperson plays a significant role in shopper conversion. It is uncertain how shoppers’ interactions with robots can be compared to shoppers’ interactions with salespeople. The findings from marketing research provide insights into how retailers can improve shopper-robot interaction. The key to replicate the shoppers’ experiences with salespeople in shopper-robot interaction is to make the robots resemble a human in their behaviors…
Alan Saint Clark | Phantom Electrik Comics | Phantomelectrik.com Assorted works by friendly neighborhood supervillain, ontological mechanic, and founder of Phantom Electrik Comics: Alan Clark. Phantom Electrik produces “the world’s most dangerous comics,” that infiltrate the mindscape of human people to farm out ontological devices in an undiscovered war against a multiverse of foes. Black futurism Traveler of the unknown, hunter of the unseen. Kimmy 1B Defend your block BW Tension Color/change too- Infinite tomorrows The multitudes of options. A brighter forever. The Rounds Cover From the sci-fi soap opera Babylon Babylon Sci-fi soap opera series by Alan Saint Clark…
by Mina McBride & Christopher Bent Abstract Creative Response Surveying as part of foresight activity can address barriers such as fear, resistance, lack of diversity, and groupthink that naturally occur during conversations about new ideas and change. Using the participatory drawing tool, Piccles, the authors found a novel way for adults, children, artists and non-artists, to express themselves through drawing, where individual pictures work together with others to reveal larger patterns. This method has been shown to yield unique qualitative data that uncovers truths that previously went unspoken and could be a useful activity for foresight processes like Causal Layered…
by Ahmed Best | Afrofuturist Podcast | Twitter: @ahmedbest The Afrofuturist Podcast brings forward the people and ideas that strive to shape the future from places seldom discussed but equally valuable. From artists and engineers to technologists and thought leaders, this podcast showcases those that are passionate about diversifying and democratizing the building of the future. Co-created by Ahmed Best and Lonny Brooks. Hosted by Ahmed Best. Introducing The Afrofuturist Podcast with Dr. Lonny Brooks The inaugural episode of The Afrofuturist Podcast featuring the show’s resident afrofuturist Dr. Lonny Brooks. Brooks is a professor of communication at Cal State University…
Art by: Stacey Robinson Concept Art of Wakanda from Marvel Cinematic Universe* As Kodwo Eshun phrased it in his article “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism” (2003), we need to deepen our Afrofutures toolkit. An Afrofutures toolkit is a manner of thinking “developed for and by Afrodiasporic intellectuals” with the imperative “to code, adopt, adapt, translate, misread, rework, and revise” visions of Black aspiration and imagination. As the historic Black Panther film set box office records, it simultaneously embodied and problematized our current Black Diasporic and Pan African imagination. With its presentation of Wakanda, the mythical and technologically advanced Black nation untouched…
by Sebastian Bollien On the 9th of August 2020, the presidential elections of Belarus ended officially with a landslide victory of Alexander Lukashenko, the head of state since 1994. Despite the fact, that no presidential election of this century considered to be free and fair by international observers (Shotter & Seddon, 2020), the reaction of the civil society has never been as severe and far-reaching. It resulted in month-long mass protests throughout the country and governmental answers with increasing numbers of arrests, convictions, terror, and violence. The evident rigging of the election, repression against opposition or journalists and the severe…
郑科骥(Louis ZHENG), 未来学家俱乐部（中国） 王家琨(JK WANG), 未来学家俱乐部（中国） 概述 本文旨在介绍一种笔者在社群活动实践中经常采取的以策展+工作坊形式的研究方法，结合未来学、个体视角、青年叙事。通过共创工作坊中个人创作的拼贴画，了解个体未来叙事，并尝试延展到对青年群体未来的长期追踪和分析。本文详细分享了这套方法的基本框架、研究及活动流程，并用具体案例解释图景分析方法。 关键词：未来图景、叙事拼贴画、共创式展览 Summary This article aims to introduce a research method that the author often adopts in the practice of community activities in the form of exhibition curation + workshop, combining foresight, individual perspective, and youth storytelling Through the collages created by workshop participants, we can understand the future narrative of individuals, and try to extend it to the long-term tracking and analysis of the future of youth groups. This article shares the basic framework, research, and process of this method in detail, and uses specific cases to explain the collage analysis method.…
by Helen Halford The extraordinary social and economic impacts of COVID-19 have profoundly disrupted the operations of social purpose organisations and shifted the needs and perspectives of the communities they serve. At the same time, the importance of maximising the impacts of activities that create meaningful and long-term social transformation that is relevant to present and future generations has never been greater. This presents a complex and critical problem at the level of both business and beneficiaries. Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is a method for deepening the process of addressing complex social problems and formulating alternative futures. Questioning and creating…