Story Insider: Tomorrow's world, today's story

Read now | "I find it weird that the future is (so often) depicted as dystopian - by definition - an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice."

We’re living in a story of transition. A transition from an ‘old’ world to a ‘new’ world - dreamed of, but not yet realized. We’ve been in this state for quite some time. And if you, like me, believe that our stories reflect the world around us - both real and imagined - then what kind of place do we want to live in? What’s the vision? And what stories do we need to make/tell/share to get us there?

I find it weird that when “the future” (both near or far) is depicted in books, films, theatre, TV shows or whatever, it is often (if not always) painted as “dystopian” - by definition - an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice. 

Let’s have a few examples, shall we?

• A scientist working for a shadowy corporate outfit coaxes the last whale to speak to her (via some form of AI), so that the company can kill the whale, in the vague hope of preserving its DNA for the future (Extrapolations)

• Banks collapse as climate, political and refugee crises escalate, leaving one family reeling from its traumatic impact (Years and Years)

• After the world freezes over, a trainload of survivors fight-to-the-death over food and power (Snowpiercer)

Grim. In essence: a future full of stuff that humans don’t actually want. And much of this grimness has already arrived! Now before you argue that I’m the “imagination police” (I’m not), I think we need to ask ourselves: why would we want more of this? 

As the old adage says: “where attention goes, energy flows”.

Sure, some might argue that we need to see this future, so that we can shock ourselves into meaningful action. But clearly that doesn’t work (just ask the IPCC and the decades-long campaign for global climate action). 

So what to do about it?