UNESCO: From future-proofing to futuring / Martin Calnan / Intersection 23

In the face of pan- and perma-crises that do not stand alone, but are intertwined and in complex relation with each other, talk of change and transformation is ubiquitous! Yet, deep change remains obstinately elusive. All too often, limited to providing a quick fix and future-proofing it, leaving the underlying causes and issues comfortably hidden.
Why is it so hard to change?
In part because we suffer from a collective and acute “poverty of imagination”. The way we think about the future, our anticipatory thinking, has in effect cut us off from the deep inspiration the future is rife with. We think of the future as something to predict, harness and control, rather than a source of emergence and inspiration. So, despite the incessant talk of disruption, no matter how hard we try, we tend to reproduce our default patterns, all too often conflating cool special effects, nifty design, cool technology for change.
This is where Futures Literacy comes in. Futures Literacy has been developed by UNESCO, as one of the essential capabilities for the 21st century. It is the ability to understand the role and power of the future in what we see and do in the present. Futures Literacy is not about predicting the future. It's about understanding the forces that are shaping the future, and about using that understanding to create a better future.
This is an invitation to begin exploring how this capability can contribute to harnessing the full power of the future and help us consciously and deliberately step outside our proverbial box!