Skip to content
Login

A fear of the future

Posted by Charlie Edwards at 9:35am on Monday, 7th August 2006
spiked, in collaboration with Orange, has conducted a major survey of writers, thinkers, experts, academics and artists, asking them what they think are the key questions facing the next generation - those born this year, who will reach the age of 18 in 2024.

The survey aims to to challenge the downbeat spirit of our age, and to shake up both society's disenchantment with the past and its fear of the future.

You can read read the suvey here

Comments

1
C'mon Charlie, don't be shy. It would be a shame to mention Spiked without mentioning where they're coming from and what their reasons are for talking about the future.  Spiked's editorial line is fascinating, wide-eyed with enlightenment enthusiasm and bleating in response to some perceived attack on its enlightenment ideals. For Spiked, the future is full of fear because it is the home of environmentalists. They think the future should be recolanised by technologists.

This all makes me think that what is needed is a vision of the future that is optimistic but democratic. You will have noticed the Spiked asks experts to talk about the future. What about the rest of us? In our nanodialogues projects, when we ask people about the future, they are afraid precisely because they see that they have no agency in it. Reassurance, techno-promise and elitism are the last things we need. We need to invite people to imagine the future together, and shape it.

I don't want to live in a spiked future...
Posted by Jack Stilgoe  at 6:11pm on Monday, 7th August 2006

LOGIN to add comments