Mission

What we’re trying to do and why it matters

The thing I love about speculative fiction is how it opens up our imaginations. By pushing us beyond our mundane boundaries and comfort zones, it stimulates our imaginations and and helps us enter places and situations we rarely consider - and it is vital we do consider them.  Our surroundings are changing, our connections are shifting while growing, and our lifestyles with them.  Understanding where this golden brick road paved with techno-marvels and God-level chemical and biological miracles leads us is something with which we should all be concerned.  William Gibson spoke about the constant rush we all get to feel in an age of wonders in the documentary No Maps for these Territories (Wikipedia entry).

The "Non-Mediated World" has become a lost country. And I think that, in some very real way, it's a country that we cannot find our way back to. The mediated world is now THE WORLD. We are that which perceives a mediated reality. I don't think it's possible...I don't think it's possible to know what we've lost. We just have...I think there is a pervasive...there is a pervasive sense of loss, and a pervasive excitement at what we seem to be gaining. And they seem...those two feelings seem to go together, in effect, to be parts of the same feeling. It's like Frederic Jameson's "postmodern divide": you have it right there. That sense of loss, and that sense of Christmas morning, at the same time. 

Sadly, the number of businesses and individuals truly interested in looking far beyond tomorrow seems somewhat limited.  Science fiction authors, professionals involved in energy and environmental efforts, aerospace groups and some governmental/educational think tanks seem to make up a majority of the brain capacity working on shaping the future before we get there.  This begs the question: Why aren’t we being empowered to influence our future?  Why aren’t the masses leading this change?  Even more importantly, why aren’t we having an open discussion that will influence the lives of our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren?  Leaving it up to politicians and CEOs and for profit R&D ventures seems ill advised.

In response, Regarding Tomorrow is a public space where we can think long and far while considering many angles and outcomes.  A community where we can build momentum as a think tank free of R&D limitations, government oversight, national borders and the like, seems like the best way we can pull together and create something unique: a democratic path to the future.

One of my first complete looks at the project

A few years ago, Google put on a seed money contest to support top ideas that could change the world. I decided to submit my idea as I was already working on RT and had nothing to lose. Besides, the idea was still forming and writing up a comprehensive description of my idea could only help me focus.  I didn’t make the list, but the process certainly helped and I’ve posted my application below.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Anything that helps us refine the mission and methods supporting our members is always welcome.

Regarding Tomorrow: A Futurist Portal

What one sentence best describes your idea?
To provide a social portal through which individuals can share narratives and media presenting their vision of the future.

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Describe your idea in more depth.

To provide a platform through which members use storytelling (written/illustrated/recorded) to present their dreams/fears of the future.  The primary idea is to put members in touch with each other, to share their visions and develop variations through synergistic interest.  Through the exploration of these variations, participants may be able to identify best practices for achieving a better existence.

The second objective is to record these thoughts for history, archived so we can look back to see what visionaries of our time were able to forecast and to what levels of success.  Perhaps we can learn by what we predict well and even more from what we get wrong.

The third objective is to enable members to explore and improve their voice by building a social network providing feedback, editing and tutoring to develop the best product to communicate their vision.  Though the site would begin with written material, the eventual goal is to include image, audio and video representing these stories in multiple languages.

Much of this project stems from how science fiction technologies have compelled subsequent research and development efforts and continues to power R&D into the future.  I believe everyone has at least one view of great value capable of providing insight into the future.  By providing a site through which members are able to found relationships and maintain consistent asynchronous communication, I believe a synergistic relationship can be built for sharing these ideas.  Just as researchers share discoveries that accumulate to empower the next step of research, I believe members can share their visions and build into more accurate descriptions of how humanity will change aspects of culture, society and body as we move into the future.

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What problem or issue does your idea address?

Currently, the greatest influence each of us has on the future is through voting and spending; providing input to government and corporations on what practices we favor.  This provides limited input, as both lawmakers and corporations tend to focus on short-term gains.  True research takes place through efforts within higher education, corporate R&D departments and garage industries.  Access to these individuals is very limited. This site would allow the sharing of a world of visions to help identify how humans will interact as waves of technology and advancements permeate our lives.

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If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?

Our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren...  Much as a computer playing chess, humanity is constantly attempting to identify the values and return on investment of any decisions.  By involving and linking more individuals, we may be able to identify a wider range of options and explore them to greater depth than what is currently provided for through current R&D and popular science fiction.  These explorations may provide answers otherwise unavailable, much the same way as SETI at Home provides a greater opportunity for locating alien radio signals by distributing the processing requirements.  If we can identify the best and worst possibilities, we may be able to make choices with a better understanding of the future repercussions.
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What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?

The site is already in development with its own URL using open source technologies, the groundwork has been laid, and current effort is in developing a rich site interface, Blogging current events, and writing futurist content.  Financing for the site would enable less reliance on future advertising revenue to reward members for excellent content (through prize voting for best work) and to enable access to formal publishing opportunities.

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Short term outcome - To have several thousand members posting their stories in multiple languages within 2 years.

Medium range goals - 4-6 years - To be able to identify the best submissions for prizes as voted on by the community and to publish story collections through print and other media.  This might include a yearly or quarterly collection of prints, audio and video files as a method of promoting awareness of the project and the best storytellers for the quality of their work.

Long term - 10+ years – To support the development of sub-sites designed for specific regions/cultures as an effort to help their members to identify how technology may influence their lives and to identify best practices for integrating technology while maintaining the quality and content of important cultural practices.  Finally, to look back and research which populations are the most capable at correctly identifying future trends.