The future is what we make it.

We have been writing stories based on conflict and drama.

They are so much easier to sell and offer structure to linear storylines, thus we as storytellers end up imagining a stressful environment which makes people resign as if there is no hope for a better outcome. This obsession with conflict has led to bleak and dystopic representations of the future dressed up as didactic and prophetic.

But we are missing a crucial point. If we focus too much on the negative we do not design the positive. We miss out on so many opportunities to envision a better future. And it is only through imagining a more sustainable, inclusive, free and peaceful future that we have a chance to make it happen.

Interactive media can help us, as they do not need to rely so much in conflict, and they can still immerse the audience with explorative and educational modes of engagement.

Unesco in 2017 initiated a very interesting initiative towards Transforming the Future.

In the book Transforming the Future Unesco proposes the discipline of anticipation as a methodology for change and Futures Literacy as a skill to be developed

Here you can read the book.

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000264644

Reading the introduction by the secretary general is really eye opening.

Enjoy