The World In 2050. Free online conference. A historian in 2050 looks back at the path to the Great Transformation
I’m Jeremy Lent, an author and founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute. I’m passionate about doing my part to make a difference in humanity’s future trajectory. I’ve come to believe that our global society needs a transformational shift in our underlying values if we want a sustainable and flourishing future for the human race.
My most recent book, The Patterning Instinct: A History of Humanity’s Future, is the result of 8 years’ work. It’s based on a simple but compelling theme – culture shapes values, and those values shape history. The book identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning into their universe – from hunter-gatherer times to our current precarious civilization – and traces how these have affected the course of history. Taking the reader on an archaeology of the mind, it reveals the hidden layers of values that form today’s cultural norms and asks: how can we shape humanity’s destiny by consciously forging our own structures of meaning into our lives?
The Liology Institute, of which I’m president, is dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. Liology offers the experience of living life in an integrated, embodied and connected manner. Instead of the conventional search for a transcendent source of meaning, liology finds the most profound meaning in life arising from our intrinsic connectedness with every cell and integrated system within our own bodies and with every living entity in the natural world in which we are embedded. Liology sees humanity as a fractal entity within the natural system of the earth.
My novel, Requiem of the Human Soul, was published by independent publisher Libros Libertad in 2009. Set in the late 22nd century, it explores a world where most people are genetically enhanced d-humans, and the unimproved humans, Primals, are the global underclass. The UN is holding a hearing about implementing a “Proposed Extinction of the Primal Species.” It’s a hearing like no other. Our human race is on trial. Our own sordid history – the devastation we’ve caused to indigenous cultures around the world, the destruction of our environment and of other species – becomes evidence in the case against our continued existence.
Years ago, in what seems like another life, I was founder and CEO of an internet company. Now, I’m living happily in the San Francisco Bay Area with my amazing wife, Lisa Ferguson. Together, we’re trying to do our bit to make the world a better place.
Contact me at: jeremy@liology.org
I’m Jeremy Lent, an author and founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute. I’m passionate about doing my part to make a difference in humanity’s future trajectory. I’ve come to believe that our global society needs a transformational shift in our underlying values if we want a sustainable and flourishing future for the human race.
My most recent book, The Patterning Instinct: A History of Humanity’s Future, is the result of 8 years’ work. It’s based on a simple but compelling theme – culture shapes values, and those values shape history. The book identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning into their universe – from hunter-gatherer times to our current precarious civilization – and traces how these have affected the course of history. Taking the reader on an archaeology of the mind, it reveals the hidden layers of values that form today’s cultural norms and asks: how can we shape humanity’s destiny by consciously forging our own structures of meaning into our lives?
The Liology Institute, of which I’m president, is dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. Liology offers the experience of living life in an integrated, embodied and connected manner. Instead of the conventional search for a transcendent source of meaning, liology finds the most profound meaning in life arising from our intrinsic connectedness with every cell and integrated system within our own bodies and with every living entity in the natural world in which we are embedded. Liology sees humanity as a fractal entity within the natural system of the earth.My novel, Requiem of the Human Soul, was published by independent publisher Libros Libertad in 2009. Set in the late 22nd century, it explores a world where most people are genetically enhanced d-humans, and the unimproved humans, Primals, are the global underclass. The UN is holding a hearing about implementing a “Proposed Extinction of the Primal Species.” It’s a hearing like no other. Our human race is on trial. Our own sordid history – the devastation we’ve caused to indigenous cultures around the world, the destruction of our environment and of other species – becomes evidence in the case against our continued existence.
Years ago, in what seems like another life, I was founder and CEO of an internet company. Now, I’m living happily in the San Francisco Bay Area with my amazing wife, Lisa Ferguson. Together, we’re trying to do our bit to make the world a better place.
Contact me at: jeremy@liology.org
A Tale of How Radical Climate Justice Just Might Get Us All to 2050 in One Piece [a novella in progress]
John Foran, University of California, Santa Barbara
This presentation will re-envision Naomi Oreskes and Richard Conway’s grim “future history,” through the hopeful lens of today’s global climate justice movement. The talk will conclude by venturing into the uncharted territory of a post-capitalist world (more).
Changing the Narrative: Viewing the Present from the Future
Christopher Bowman, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
This paper constructs a counternarrative to dystopian climate fiction by identifying sources of optimism and envisioning the outcomes of their implementation. While ultimately depicting a number of collisions with climate change, this paper charts a more likely—and optimistic—narrative for humanity than its apocalyptic predecessors (more).
The Great Transformation: How We (Just) Avoided a Climate Catastrophe
Jeremy Lent, Liology Institute
This talk imagines a world saved from the brink of collapse by grass-roots communities across the world connected through a shared foundation of core values emphasizing quality of life over material possessions. The presenter outlines what such a movement would entail and how it reverted the world from near certain catastrophe (more).
Three Fragments to Generate Alternative Visions of Climate Futures
Laurence Marty, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
This talk will draw from the presenter’s personal experience in the environmental realm to tell the story of three fictional characters affected by climate change. By expanding the scope of potentialities, including prefigurative experiments developed by social movements, the author hopes to help imagine and create alternative and fairer climate futures(more).
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Anyone who looks clearly at our climate emergency––and the forces arrayed against the drastic changes we need––has most likely experienced periods of despair. Personally, I find myself oscillating between hoper and despair, with the recognition that, collectively, hope is far more likely to lead us to a flourishing future.
This presentation uses the “future history” format to explore the validity of hope, without trying to downplay the gravity of our current situation. It offers a vision of what a potential positive future could look like, based on the intersectionality of many powerful movements and ideas already gaining traction today.
How realistic does this hypothetical future scenario seem to you? Are there any important themes that you think are missing from my “future narrative” that may play a crucial part in our trajectory? What moves you the most, personally, when you consider the next few decades of our global civilization?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and engaging in conversation.
Thank you for watching our panel on cli-fi !
About “Three fragments : climate futures”, please let me know if you have any feedback or questions. This video is our first one and we are still experimenting it !
Some of the questions are essential : Does this kind of videos/texts help to create alternative and fairer narratives ? Are these narratives inspiring to take action ? Do these human and non-human characters allow to embody the abstract climate narrative ? Is it most interesting to work with these kind of fictional characters, or to use and edit real interviews ? (At this point, I got two main ideas to keep working on the project : create characters based on my fieldworks ; create writing sci-fi workshops about imagining a fairer future built on personal experiences and hopes.)
Any feedback on the form is also welcome (especially if you think theses texts would be better without videos !). And for sure, we are open to any new questions and comments !
Thank you,
Laurence