Video Concept: The Future Is Not A Control Room

[inge]

The Future is not a Control Room

A new world is being built by people working far outside the mainstream. Around the world there are people exploring the edge of our current society. They aspire to solve global societal, economic, environmental, security and energy problems threatening humanity. They care about several different issues, such as open access to knowledge; openness and transparency of government; food security; smart communities; decentralized economic architecture; free/open source software; and art.

Amazing projects demonstrate hope for the future and visions of the world which is possible when we work together. In Rome, a community makespace was set up, to create an open space for hackers, artists, social innovators to create better projects together. In Denmark, they are trying to send a man into space using open source hard- and software. In Matera a group of young activists are improving their cities by engaging inhabitants to reactivate abandoned buildings. Many people living their dreams together are changing their corner of the world, one small initiative at a time.

Video Concept

This video will try to capture 3 different stories of people living and working on the edge. It aims to inspire the viewers. The audience has the opportunity to learn from those on the edge. Their story is being told, not just as an interesting anecdote, but as an inspiration, a call to action, and a how-to guide. What kind of futures are they building? How certain are the participants of their/their society’s future? How do they prepare for other alternatives, for good or bad outcomes on the horizon? Why do they have to/choose to work outside the mainstream?

People all over the planet are thinking hard…

are experimenting with solutions…

and care about the most important problems humanity has.

No matter how big the risk is to fail,

no matter how much money they have in their pockets,

no matter how long it takes for their governments to pay attention.    

That kind of brave, radical innovation only happens at the Edge.  

The video will show these bits of the future that are already being build, a glimpse into the future.

Video Format

Storytelling through visualizations: this video will tell the story by following three projects who are already building their own future. It will aim to answer the questions: Why did you start your project? Have you encountered any struggles/obstacles/threats? How do you see the future if everyone on the planet would be empowered by projects like yours? How long is your planning horizon? How would it affect how your project if you had a 200 year perspective?

The video format will be more classical, as it will feature at least 3 projects. The main forces behind these projects will be interviewed, their projects will be shown in action, graphics will be developed to accompany the footage. Storytelling will, thus, be pursued through original footage, graphics, texts and possible voice over.

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[nicobis]

draft script

So, this is the draft script that we are working on, Daniele and I on our parts and Sam on Berlin one. Than we have to chose some good footage to cover voiceover (maybe we can use something from Matera’s drone flight too) and go ahead with all.

[inge]

take a look?

@rielm, take a look at the scripting of the video thus far and provide necessary comments? We’re still trying to change the introduction and the closing, but if you have any ideas on that, please let us know

[rielm]

a paradigm shift

There is a lot to discuss here - the ideas are rich and not all of the challenges are self-evident.  I want to flag something that only appears if we change the agency paradigm from one that is almost entirely focused on design and planning to one that reconsiders the position and role of agency to give more equal weight to emergence and spontaneity. The contrast might be best understood as follows: The

“edge” exists within a system and its peripheral and emergent character is what defines its edginess. But there is also the “edge” which is extra systemic, not on the edge because there is no center, new systems, with new centers and edges may or may not be emerging.  Such novelty is unknowable in advance and is very difficult to make sense of from within the existing system, even from the edge of existing systems. To me what getting beyond a control room means is that we become much more accepting and interested in the non-causal, non-narrative based sense making that is rooted in what we already know about center/periphery and adaptation - which must adapt from what exists.  The ideas is to crowd surf novel emergence, without knowing if it is center or periphery or has causal origin or direction or meaning. The control room tracks the planes, avoids collisions and plans take-offs. The control room changes when GPS allows all planes to track the other planes, and this is a unknowable and emergent change that comes in from the edge. To paradigm shift out of this view of agency - making better control rooms that integrate the edge - towards a combination of planning and improvisation requires a shift away from the current planning oriented pretensions of agency and a bias towards understanding new things as adaptations or ‘rational’ from the perspective of the old systems.  Things happen and we can dance with those phenomena in ways that were not dance in the past. This is being and not-being; doing and not-doing from the POV of discontinuity and non-continuous complex emergent novelty.

Hope this is helpful.

[inge]

Thanks!

Thanks, @rielm! I think it is veru useful. @dandimarte, @SamMuirhead, @NicoBis, can you work with this?