We need a reset on how we think about the future — even with Biden and Harris in the White House
By: Andrew Maynard
Tags: Society, Technology, Future, Science, Election 2020

We need a reset on how we think about the future — even with Biden and Harris in the White House

Despite their monumental victory, president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris have their work cut out to ensure the future is as vibrant, just and sustainable as possible

Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash

As news agencies across the US declared former vice president Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, a tsunami of hope swept across the country. Yet as the incoming administration sets about trying to build a better future, it faces a monumental task.

The past four years have brought us closer than ever to the edge of a future that is in danger of crumbling beneath our feet; not just through the lying, the conspiracy theories and the blatant disregard for evidence, reason and basic human rights, but through a confluence of factors that are threatening to undermine our very ability to create the type of future we aspire to.

With coronavirus continuing to kill thousands of people each day and infect hundreds of thousands more, we’re being starkly reminded of how hard it is to simply “science” our way out of complex challenges. Yet the cracks at our metaphorical feet as we stand on the edge of tomorrow are as much a product of our social, political and technological behaviors as they are our science.

More than ever it seems, we’re indulging our baser instincts to ignore the evidence in front of us and marginalize and persecute those who don’t look and think like us on a grand scale. Whether this is manifest in extremism, nationalism, or a self-righteous dismissal of “wrong-thinkers” — meaning, simply, people who don’t share our worldview — it is becoming harder to work together toward building a better future.

And to top it all, we’re becoming so wrapped up in our capacity to innovate that we’re losing any semblance of ability to make smart choices between what we can do, and what we should — either as individuals, as communities and organizations, or as a society.

These are all symptomatic of deeper tensions between our collective ability to influence and change the future, and our capacity to do this effectively. And they are tensions that we will only be able to address through re-evaluating our relationship with the future, and our responsibility to it.

Re-evaluating our Relationship with the Future

My work cuts across multiple areas of expertise and practice to better understand the complex relationship between past and future. And as it does, I’m constantly reminded of how hard it is to ensure that social, technological and political advances don’t end up causing more harm than good.

Climate change, as its driven along by our technological recklessness, is a stark reminder of this. But so are the injustices that millions of people face every day that result from ill-considered political decisions, or poorly thought-through good intentions, or even technologies that threaten what is of value to them in the name of progress.

Unfortunately, while we can recode DNA, design new materials atom by atom, and create machines that may one day surpass human intelligence, we are still remarkably adept as a species at preventing all too many people from reaching the futures they aspire to.

Because of this, if we are to learn to use our immense capabilities more responsibly — and avoid potentially catastrophic failures arising from our short-sightedness — we need to better-understand our relationship with the future, and our individual and collective roles in ensuring that what comes next is better than the past.

As with human relationships, this will not be easy. Yet if we better-understand how the intertwined threads that define who we are come together to make us supremely talented architects of the future, we can learn how to become better architects of that future.

Escaping the Shackles of Conventional Thinking

These threads reflect our imagination, our understanding, and our inventiveness. But they also encapsulate our very humanity — our beliefs, our desires, our joys and our fears, our eccentricities and irrationalities, and our ability to see and feel the world through the eyes of others.

The very complexity of how these threads surround, intersect with and influence one another creates vulnerabilities that are near-impossible to see through the lens of conventional thinking.

To navigate this landscape, we need to be bold enough to depart from conventional ways of understanding the world. This will include learning how to be informed by disciplines without being bound by them, and becoming skilled at blending and leverage expertise in novel ways. It will also mean embracing creativity, playfulness and serendipity, as we open ourselves to new ideas and opportunities.

At the same time, we need to infuse our thinking and actions with a level of humility and care for others that, too often, seems to elude us.

Only by doing this will we be able to avoid the pitfalls of the past and see ways forward to building a vibrant and just future that is resilient, agile, and full of promise.

A Pathway Forward

As the Biden/Harris team prepares to enter the White House, this is perhaps one of the largest challenges they will face.

Of course, cleaning up the chaos of the past four years, finding a pathway to a post-coronavirus future, and placing the US on an economically and environmentally sustainable footing, are all critically important short-term goals. Yet even these will not be possible without pressing the reset button on how we think about the future, and our relationship with it.

With new leadership, new ideas, and a new respect for the people and society they serve, I sincerely hope that the Biden/Harris administration will rise to the challenge of pressing this reset button and rethinking our relationship with the future.

If they do, there’s every chance that we’ll have new opportunities to work together toward a future that is more just, more vibrant, and more sustainable — for everyone, not just a privileged few.