“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”- Benjamin Franklin 1789
Although it’s common knowledge that uncertainty is a fundamental element of life and that we cannot predict the future (because who would foresee the global lockdown due to COVID pandemic or a war in Europe in the 21st century?), the latter has been a human desire for a long time now. Even from the era of ancient Greece, people used to visit seers -such as Pythia and Therese- to tell them what the future brings. Chronologically and technologically, we are far away from this period-however the craving seems to persist.
Technological innovations haven’t answered this question. Instead, they added more possibilities and dimensions on how the future could unravel. Because, if t Gutenberg’s printing press on the 15th century formed new channels of knowledge transfer and human communication, today’s AI revolution is currently shaking the status quo of almost every dimension of our life- work, learn, buy, choose and interact with others.
Nevertheless, technology is not panacea. The Elon University study “Being Human in 2035”, expects a negative change in core human functions -such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking-due to overreliance to AI systems, and sheds light to the dark side of the current revolution. Indeed, why should we bother imagine a view of something, when AI can generate it immediately? Why should we stress out, reading, thinking and argument, when AI has the right (?) answers on anything?
And here comes a deeper question: Can AI and other digital technologies colonize our future? The excessive usage of artificial output can even shape human perceptions about how things should be like, affecting our actions and consequently our future. And even though these systems rely upon human data, the way they operate could omit statistical outliers– which can represent extremely different including innovative aspects- endangering our cultural diversity, and freedom of thinking.
Technology is a disruptor of established social and economic systems. But so it is foresight and futures literacy. Through participatory methods, the two latter support individuals and societies to accept and embrace uncertainty, get connected with their inner core values, while at the same time bring people together to discuss and explore desires and possibilities for the future, based on human instincts and imagination.
There is no secret recipe that can predict the future. Should we want to create an anthropocentric and sustainable one, machinery and humans should closely cooperate. Collective Intelligence is needed- meaning physical and online networks of people – assisted but not relied solely upon technology- that collaborate and exchange opinions to create new knowledge. A great example of a platform of Future Oriented Collective Intelligence (FOCI) is Futures4europe, – an online space where a community meets, feels free to express different opinions but also a live library, an archive where foresight projects and initiatives are stored and demonstrated, giving the opportunity- not only to futurists, but also to policy makers, scientists or even just foresight enthusiasts to become part of this community- find subjects of interest and more importantly- start to think (their) future in a conscious and exploring manner.
Eliza Savvopoulou
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
