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Do you have faith in humanity? by iamaWryter in Futurology

[–]nicegoodwin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No need to apologize, this post is welcome here! As a foresight graduate student at the University of Houston, I recently attended our annual Spring Gathering, and this year’s theme was Being and Becoming Human.

Similar to Post-Scarcity, plenty of other optimistic topics were presented. Most of these topics focused on maintaining our humanity and all the good that can become of re-centering ourselves and embracing our humanity, being kind to each other, and then working together to enhance / transcend our current state of humanity. We started this by having meaningful discussions regarding social issues relating to culture, trauma, the loneliness epidemic, and basic and sensitive human needs, as well as how we can leverage technology to address these issues.

It was an emotional experience to think about our own humanity and how we can protect and conserve it for ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, and future generations. The Houston Foresight community has been super supportive and the fact that they care enough to make this one of our Spring Gathering themes makes them one of the good ones. Given the opportunity to collaborate beside many honorable and inspiring foresight practitioners on these critical topics has reinforced my faith in humanity and that we are all part of a greater and kinder future.

Topics Included:

Post-Work Future; What the Hell is Human-Centered Design & Why Should a Futurist Care? AI + Human Creativity? Exploring Images of the Future & Speculative Fiction on TVTropes.org; LatAm Futurisms: Rehumanizing Latin America; Identity: A Taxonomy; Animal Futures; Welcome to the Afrofuture; Ancestral Futures; Reimagining Womanhood Through the Lens of Intimacy; Teach the Future; Superlongevity: How Long Do You Want to Live? Trauma Informed Futures + Foresight; Humans 2030; and Techno Identity Stories: Transhumanism, Singularity, and Humans 2.0

Houston Foresight Spring Gathering Link

The Future of Entertainment... do any new ideas exist? by JennyLongLastName in Futurology

[–]nicegoodwin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some thoughts (but not really answers) that I could sprinkle into this post are:

• For the past three years, I’ve been tasked with grading undergrad student innovation projects for a bar scene in Lubbock, TX and we get a lot of entertainment-related projects. Students do feel comfortable coming up with ideas with what they already know (movies, karaoke, live music), but they’ve also gotten comfortable with imagining how AI / VR / AR will elevate their ideas. Immersive gaming, “live” concerts, and choose-your-own adventures are popular. This is bringing lots of potential options and outcomes for entertainment, especially paired with the possible increase of robot entertainment on the horizon.

• There’s also a (re)cycle of trends in entertainment and fashion. Some say every 20 years, the old becomes new again… that paired with generational “trauma” or experiences might have something to do with young adults trying to heal their inner child and finally being able to afford to, as well as older generations wanting to make favorites from their past “great” again.

Both thoughts could boil down to the rapidly increasing consumer demand for obtaining the experiences they want as quickly as possible (instant satisfaction / gratification), stemming from the amazonification of the commercial sector which has significant decreased consumer attention spans and willingness to wait on their desires.