The science of development

The true goals of Futures Science are the development and performance of an action plan. This is the actual "future building" while the solutions and waypoints serve as blueprints. This section features ways to map the future.

• Using the force (community building)
• Mapping the destinations
• Walking the path

Future building is anything but a solo exercise. The most important aspect of future building is the power of the collective. The "force" is so strong in today's society that it causes discouragement and despair in those that wish to make a difference. Many people try to do their part, but eventually lose interest because the good they can offer is so little in comparison to the destructive power of the masses. It is only possible to counteract this great inertia by building a community, a force that starts rolling in the right direction. Once it gains momentum, all those individuals who tried and failed will have a force to add their contributions to, rather than just being a diamond in the rough.

How to Begin

The first step toward making a real difference is the same as it has always been. Get educated. The most important thing you can do before jumping in to a "get it done" mentality is to understand the reality you live in. Too many people jump in and try to make a difference without properly understanding what it is that they want to change. This leads to short lived, desperate attempts that are akin to throwing yourself under a train. Even the most novice of tacticians would be familiar with this number one rule: Know thy enemy.

The information on this site is specifically meant to provide an understanding of world futures--what we're looking at on a global scale. This is the most important thing to gain an understanding of, before you start changing lesser systems, because lesser systems are like driftwood on the tides of systems above them. This is why it is best to start big.  To repair a global system, you only need to deal with other big systems. To repair a minor system, such as suburban sprawl, you have to first deal with all of the larger systems that affect it. Otherwise, even if you manage to fix the problem, it will grow back.

This is why change usually takes the form of something that serves the system above it better. To affect change, you have to understand what functions the higher system needs to fulfill, and then fulfill it with a better subsystem.

Step #1. In the beginning, your energy is best spent gaining systemic knowledge of the complex system you wish to ultimately change. Understand the systems it is "within," "alongside," and are "within it." Learn your system's function for all of these other systems.

Inherent in this stage is learning the effects of your system. You will learn the direction it is taking into the future (the system's probable futures) and the pattern changes that would take your system toward desired futures. When you understand these things, you are ready to affect change.

Completing the knowledge production phase of future building may take some time, but once you have a firm grasp on the systems functions you are dealing with, it falls upon you to educate others. By doing this, the community of learners as a whole  rises in their understanding of complex systems, and experts in all fields related to your information can begin to incorporate it into their strategies. This is how you gain harmony of function with parallel systems. Once an understanding of mutual reliance is built, they can combine efforts to benefit each other.

Also once the function of the system for the larger system above it (for example, oil companies----> convert potential energy from earth into usable energy for human machines/tools----> machines/tools expand complexity of human functions) is understood, the problem can be properly addressed -- (in the case of this example, the powering of human tools/machines to continue the growing complexity of human functions). 

Once You Are an Expert

Because you are an expert, you understand the ins and outs of your field of expertise. You understand its function within the greater fabric of complex systems, and as an extension can understand how it can become healthier and more efficient in the future. This is where most experts come to a brick wall in their progression... often they are happy to talk to people about what they have discovered, but are unsure of themselves when it comes to the next stage.

Step #2. Begin social re-organization with a futurist strategy.

The expert must transform themselves at this stage. The curse of the academic is often that they limit their vision to merely the intellectual mastery of their field. They do not realize that this is merely a step... and only the first step of affecting systemic change. They also fail to see that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the expert to drive that change, rather than to just provide information.

Here is what you will need to do to drive social reorganization:

• Clearly present the nature of the system you are trying to change. Make understandable the function of the system, the problems, the probable future of the system, and propose desired futures.
• Build a network within the system that clearly understands the benefit and necessity of the proposed change. Constantly build this network until it saturates the system. The growth of this network is what provides the social power necessary to evolve the system, and you cannot affect major change without it.
• Using backcasting, map the necessary steps for systemic transformation. Make sure these steps correspond to the size of your network in magnitude. Have steps focused on growth for small networks, and steps focused on major transformation reserved for large networks. It should be your focus to always be growing your network. Even once a system is saturated, you may then co-operate successfully with other systems.
• Your system depends on the health of the subsystems and supersystems that affect it. You will find that this method of social reorganization ends only with the complete integration of all systems.

A community of like-minded individuals is great, but without a guide, they are nothing more than an interest group. The power behind the collective is a singular, organized vision to bring them together. This section is about drawing out a path in order to focus the community's energy.

Once the waypoints and goals have been set, the only thing left is to "walk the walk". While everything before this is vitally important, Walking the Path is the culmination of everything that future building works toward. The wonder of futures is that they are infinite. Any goal is attainable, and this section is dedicated to the last step.

 

 

Many of the seemingly irreparable problems we see in our society today are created by the general chaos in which humanity travels through time. Only by creating some sort of order can we carve out the future we want. Our future is as chaotic as our effort to get there.