Messages from the Future: Exploring the Nature and Meaning of Progress

I’m not sure how many of you caught the podcast I did with Chris Colbert on his “Insert:Human” series. It’s here, if you are interested.

That conversation was such a blast that we have decided to continue it on “Clubhouse” the new, so-called “drop in audio” platform. It’s like a combo of a podcast with call-in participation. It’s an experiment. It will be fun. First one is today at noon eastern time. If you have the Clubhouse app, you can get notified of conversations here.

Here is roughly what we will be trying to talk about. OK, we called it a “manifesto” — I’ve always wanted a manifesto.

Messages from the Future Manifesto

Our tomorrow is dependent on our actions today. And our actions today depend on our understanding of what may come tomorrow.

Our goal in Messages from the Future is to help unlock that understanding, and in doing so, motivate each of us to think differently and perhaps act differently to increase the odds of a better future for more people.

There was a time when progress was considered a given. Tomorrow would be better than today. Period. Our search for explanations and solutions knew no bounds and was the source of generally beneficial steps forward. That faith in progress is still alive and well among many, but, for our generation, Vietnam, 1968, Watergate and Reaganism intervened and suddenly we felt unsteady. Progress is not certain and technology cuts both ways. Today we find ourselves face to face with multiple global crises — nuclear, climate, genetic and AI — all of which are of our own making.

We will begin by considering two main paths to the future, both with a dystopian edge. The first, where climate emergencies and refugee crises trigger a populist “fortress nation” rise of authoritarianism around the world, threatening the very institutions that make human progress possible. The second, is the future where our technology threatens to overwhelm our humanity and reduce us to incompetent passengers on our own ship — with no intention or purpose.

Contrast those with a future that continues the human project of progress and problem solving by engaging a “coalition of the willing” to keep the experiment going — to keep control of our own creations and bend them to a destination that we choose. A destination which may be barely visible, but will capture and preserve what it means to be fully human.

On our best days, Messages from the Future will give us those glimpses and help us try to decipher their meaning for ourselves and each other. In the spirit of “being the change we seek,” we might even provide some motivation to move forward in a different way.

The result may not provide fodder for your next cocktail party, but when the subject turns to reasons for living, you’ll be prepared.

Thank you for joining us.