Social movement goals reflect visions of the future

1
Connecting Social Movements to the Future

• Social movement goals reflect visions of the
  future

• Social movement discourse paints picture of
  consequences of current actions

2
What is the Role of Technology?A Tale of Two
Social Movements

• Industrial Revolution England
• Luddites

• Depression America
• Technocrats

3
Luddites

• Industrial Revolution in England
• Loss of cottage industry
• 1811-1816 General Ludd

• 60 frames broken in Nottingham
• Members shipped to Australia (labour movement)60
  frames broken in Nottingham
• Members shipped to Australia (labour movement)

4
Technocrats

• Howard Scott 1930s (1933-36)
• Maximize efficiency and redesign society around
  mechanical lines
• Put engineers in charge

• Harness efficiencies to give high living standard
  and minimize waste of resources
• Continental corporate technate
• Focus on energy certificates
• alive and well in Silicon Valley

5
Dreams?
6
Fears?
7
Rooted in the present
8
Technological optimism and expertise
9
James Tiberius Kirk
10
Star Wars
11
Fighting in space
12
Implications?
13
The cultural construction of time

• Edward Hall and the Hopi..future non-imperative
• European efficiency and Mayan specificity
• Creating the future

14
The winding path to the future

• Greco-Roman (Delphi) and Judeo-Christian
  prophetic traditions (600BCE to 500 CE)
• Renaissance 1300-1500, creation of an open system
  and concern with the past and the future
• Reformation (1500-1600) Are we progressing or
  degenerating?
• Enlightenment (1700s) rational speculation.
  People create the future

15
WWII, the turning point for futures studies

• Manhattan project and cybernetics, purposeful
  work with attention to feedback
• The Holocaust, Hiroshima, angst
• Then
• Think Tanks (Rand, Hudson Institute)
• Club of Rome

16
Club of Romes big 5

• Intertwining problems (1972 Limits to Growth)
• Resources
• Environmental degradation
• Population
• Peace-keeping
• Rich-poor gap

17
The Future

• Is a creation of our own values
• Is a creation of our own actions
• Can be anticipated within a range of scenarios
• Is useful not as a PREDICTION, but as something
  that can guide strategy and decision making

18
Example Superstruct

• http//superstructgame.org