Notes from the sci-fi economics residency, Daniel & Ketty's group

In our Narration Day’ sessions, we envisioned a future city called Anissem, nestled on the Mediterranean coast, perhaps once known as Messina.
Our creative journey unfolded with a diverse cast of characters, each contributing to the tapestry of this speculative world. Namely, they are:

Ahmed migrant#1 he feels welcome there- Daniel S.
Philip migrant#2 the temporary outsider- Felipe
Tane - Luca
Aisha young disilluded girl - Michele
Daniele a decadent politician - Daniel K.
Katy a Psychologist - Ketty

We delved into the year 2050, where Anissem stood as a beacon of resilience amidst the challenges of climate change. Desertification threatened the region, prompting innovative responses like climate heavens/havens—formerly unused areas transformed into havens of life. However, alongside these refuges, we explored the plight of climate refugees and the complex dynamics between tourists and transitory inhabitants.

Central to our narrative were the inhabitants of Anissem, a nomadic community attuned to living amidst scarcity. We pondered the adaptation of governance structures, envisioning an acronymic governance model—OASES (Organised Adaption and Solidarity Embedded in Society). This community, like birds, found solace in mobility, less affected by the harsh realities of climate change.

The story unfolded through the perspectives of characters like Felipe, an outsider navigating the intricacies of Anissem through the Ortigia Program. We explored the linguistic and cultural tapestry of Anissem, where Latin, Arabic, and Greek coexisted, reflecting the rich heritage of the region.

Economic sustainability emerged as a theme, with concepts like time-based economies and the cultivation of insect farming for food security. Yet, amidst abundance, characters like Aisha grappled with existential angst, yearning for a life beyond the utopian facade of Anissem.

As our brainstorming session progressed, we pondered questions of governance, spirituality, and cultural synthesis. The city of Anissem became a canvas for exploring the complexities of human relationships, societal values, and the relentless march of progress.

Through our collective imagination, Anissem emerged not just as a setting but as a character in its own right—a testament to the resilience of humanity in the face of an uncertain future.

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@dkaplan @lucacominassi

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Aisha

She is a brilliant student, angry that young and old population is excluded from political discourse. The needs of the young and the elderly are put aside. She grew up with her grandparents and is too angry to get to the bottom of her emotions. Schools do not yet allow young people to learn the importance of civic involvement. She reads a lot and has learned the importance of participating in community decisions but she feels excluded. This is why she is very angry and avoids immersing herself in her emotions. She had to capitalize on her rational skills to deal with domestic matters. She is tired of her voice not being heard and she wants to go to another country, where young people are involved in public life.
She meets Tane and discovers the Bottom up movement, within which she founds a student protest movement. Tane explains to her the potential of self-organized movements. During the movement’s meetings, she meets Philip, who tells her that things in England aren’t going as she imagines.

Ahmed

Home at last

My journey started far away when my home became inhabitable, it was just too hot, too dry, everyone had left or was leaving north. So I took my boat and went form harbour to harbour, wherever the wind took me, looking for a new home. One day, I saw a group of birds and decided to follow them and they led me to Anissem.

Anissem may not be the most logical choice of home. It is still quite warm and dry, actually like my home used to be, but it feels welcoming somehow.

The first person I met when I landed at the beach was Ketty, the psychologist, she explained me that she helps people go deep in the sea to go deep into themselves. I am not sure I understood what that means, but didn’t dare question it, so I said that that is exactly what had brought me there.

Then she explained that to be accepted into Anissem I had to bring something, some knowledge they didn’t have. That was a relief, no one asked for my passport, or for money or asked me to sign any forms or papers, like they do in other places.

But what do I know that could interest them? I explained that I know how to work the land even when it rains little, that I can build a house using simple materials that is fresh in the heat and does not need much energy, that I know a hundred ways of using water cleverly not to waste it, that I bring with me seeds of drier climates that might just grow well here. I was sure, that was not going to be enough and she was going to call the police and send me away once more. I had no money, no diploma to show, no future, I was just a survivor.

Surprisingly, she said that I was most welcome and that she was sure I was going to be fit in just great in Anissem.

Ketty introduced me to Daniele the former Mayor of Anissem, I am not quite sure about what he does, but he showed me a plot of land in which I could settle temporarily, and I built my tent there.

My neighbour is Aisha, a young girl always on her phone who barely acknowledged me, she was not unfriendly, just lost in he thoughts.

Tāne

What is your name?

Tāne Goodwin

Where feels like home?

Native forest

What is your history?

I was lucky enough to be born in New Zealand to a mixed couple made up of a descendant of Scottish settlers and a Māori. I have a complex identity which, even within the same day, allows me to think through different worldviews.

I am among the founders of an independent non-partisan non-profit registered charity working on energy, climate, and electrification research, advocacy, and supporting communities through the energy transition.

About twenty years ago at the beginning of our project we mapped symbolic places around the world. In Italy at the time we were intrigued by the story of the ridiculous Messina bridge project. Consider that at the time transport was the main cause of emissions in the city. We managed to support the growth of a group of local politicians on the topic of converting the money allocated for the bridge in favor of the electrification (starting from transport and residential homes) of Messina, making it become the prototype for the entire region.The European institutions then copied us by mapping idiotic macro public works to be converted into projects to combat climate change all around the continent

What is your relationship with the state?

The part of my family of European origins gave me confidence in institutions and in the possibilities of improving them. I grew up with progressive values. My fellow electro-fighters accuse me of being a statist

What is your relationship with your neighbours?

Working in energy networking is everything. I learn from nature. I love help designing places where neighbours are or become communities

Portrait Picture?

I would use some cool ancestors old (from XVI century, it’s all relative) pic

Gender?

I don’t believe that gender is a question of being but a question of doing

Abilities?

Very good in team building. Terrible in material building

Technologies?

A lot

What is your secret?

I’m very good at keeping secrets. When friends want to hide something they come to tell me because they know that this way it will remain more secret

Who do you hate?

Fascists and conspiracy theorists

Who do you fear?

lack of education in beauty, in the meaning of Friedrich Schiller

Who will you come to aid without hesitation?

anyone who asks for help

What are your tasks?

Pushing

Philip

It was getting dark. The day spent at the beach was overwhelming. Seeing that many people, going from one group to another, discussing, laughing, swimming, was not usual for him. In the London delta, back home, where temperatures were much more welcoming, only owners of the recently built fortresses, the last real estate project built by the Indian capitals, friends of the Anglo-Saxon-Indian rulers of multilateralism, could access its equivalent. He was so glad he found an escape way from his wealthy family, obsessed with security and their whiteness to be preserved as a humanity responsibility. The Ortygia program was a hard one to get. His social background and his connections were probably the reason behind his success. Even if, deep, as his compatriots from the Patria of organization, of adaptation, of solidarity, liked to call it, he knew something was off, there was not another alternative, not at least in the near horizon. Could we sacrifice beauty, as the main and only source of exchange value, for the sake of building a society organized around the use value of everything else –interactions, basic goods, knowledge, for surviving while still living? Well, why not? Ancestors, philosophers, would understand it in the face of the new material conditions, and what those supposedly to carry their legacy have done to life.
-Big life to the sea! Ana Oji Sibaja!
As soon as he said the collective prayer aloud, a little girl appeared from the bushes of the lower finca:
-Vaffanculo, gringo.
-Excuse me?
-Are you up there in the North buying this shit now?
-I beg you pardon?
-Please, excuse me. I’ve lost my bridge so it’s not at all my intention to create a conflict to solve it.

Daniele

  • Tane, Philip, Aisha, thanks for agreeing to see me. I know I’m not your favorite person. My rehab has changed me, but you’re entitled to disbelieve me when I say that.

  • You can say that again…

  • I think I can help Anissem.

  • How on earth could…

  • … Hear me out. Do you remember when Malta’s submarine surfaced right in the middle of the harbor? Or when France’s entire 2nd fleet sailed through the strait like it had nothing better to do?

  • So?

  • So we’re weak. The world out there is violent. They want some of what we have – location, good volcanic land, water, rich sea bottom. They don’t like some of what we do – welcome migrants, export our model.

  • Fuck what they don’t like!

  • Maybe, Philip. But they have the means to fuck with us until we’re unable to do anything. You need someone who knows this violent world. Someone who speaks its language. You also need allies, trade partners, people who rely on you for something.

  • And… You think you can be that someone?

  • Well, you don’t need my skills here, anyway, right Aisha?…

  • Not really, no.

  • And I wouldn’t make the best farmer, or marine caretaker, or eggplant solar panel assembler.

  • Why not? Just joking…

  • And you value all knowledge, even mine?

  • Point taken.

  • So make me your nomadic ambassador. Maybe along with one other person that could change every 3-6 month, so we remain connected to Anissem, and you don’t have to trust me that much (I can’ believe I’m saying that)…

  • We need no ambassador.

  • Don’t you, Tane? Are our waste processing seaweed tanks full? Hasn’t Denmark dismantled the cells you had helped set up outside Copenhagen, Philip? How many new migrants from North Africa have we greeted in the last 6 months, after France’s fleet settled south of us?

  • Yea but…

  • My skills are wasted here, but I remain an Anissemian. Let me be useful in building our security!

  • Hmm… May be worth a try. But you’ll be on a short leash!

Ketty, the psychologist
As a psychologist I spend much time with others, which gives me many relational credits
and forces me to go back deep in the sea to think and connect to myself, more often than I
would like to.
But what else could I do? refuse to talk? That's the reason why my house is one of those
built on the beach.
I therefore live near the first bridge, a place where people traditionally come in order to
have important discussion about the present, the past and the future. This is where I've
met some of the in inhabitants of Anissem: Tani with his dream of better bottom up ways of
governance, Philip, before he decided to go back to London, Daniele when he came back
from his rehab program in Dubai, and others.
I remember him that I had with Ahmed.
Sometimes, people arrive here, not knowing that they know much. Ahmed thought he was
infant but he is the one that helped us to experiment on portable Bridge, so that people
can talk together every where and at any time. He also was the one who helped us build
more comfortable houses for better preparedness for the climate issues the whole world is
facing.
Working with humans is working with their values and in our strange system, that fact is
even more prominent.
I know that I know how to help people realize what they know. It's my way of helping
people find how they can contribute to the society.
Tomorrow, I’m having a bridge with Aicha. She asked for a rendezvous, and I feel really
lucky because she's angry at everybody. She'd like to understand how she can contribute
before being able to leave Anissem. I hope I'll be able to help her.

For the rest of the Narrative Framework, refer to the wiki

Wikipedia page: Anissem’s OASES System.

A Powerpoint presentation on Anissem, Presentation to World Antieconomic Forum, c. 2048, archived from the original on May 9, 2050.