Experiential Futures: Stepping into OCADU's Time Machine

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
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
 
            
 

Willis B. Goldbeck is an independent so-
cial and economic policy consultant. He
founded the Foresight Education Program
in 2009 (www.foresighteducation.info). He
served as chairman of the board for the In-
stitute for Alternative Futures from 1998 un-
til 2006.
Lisa Hasler Waters is Technology for
Teaching and Learning Integrator at Flint
Hill School in Northern Virginia and is a col-
laborator with Willis Goldbeck’s Foresight
Education Program at the Institute for Alter-
native Futures. She earned her PhD in edu-
cational technology from the University of
Hawaii and studied futures with Dr. James
Dator.
A longer version of this essay, including ref-
erences, course design descriptions, and a
list of schools participating in the Foresight
Education program, may be found on THE
FUTURIST’s Web site.
Experiential Futures:
Stepping into OCADU’s
Time Machine
By Stuart Candy








 

  






 
    
        










Next Steps for Foresight Education





 
    



 


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
 
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    


 

   

     



    

     
34THE FUTURISTwww.wfs.org


     
  








  

  




 

  

 





      

  


     
  


 





 


 
 
 


  





 





    
Scenario: The Love Museum
The Romancing Singapore exhibit—which
runs until January 15, 2033, according to the
sign—documents the astonishing and
eventful recent history of love, sex, and
relationships.
As you enter the Singapore Discovery
Center, a docent reminds you that it is only in
the past 20 years that the separate roles of
Sexer and Soulmate were mandated to
replace the bafflingly long-lived (and now
obsolete) institution of marriage, in which
these functions had always been fused.
The exhibit includes posters, newspaper
reports, an educational slideshow, and video
from a 24-hour news channel. Some of the
most intriguing artifacts are fragments of a
vanished past: Take, for instance, the con-
dom, a personal device formerly needed to
prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted
disease. Or the rose, which was once used
by couples as a gift to symbolize their affec-
tion. These days, it’s just another pretty
flower.
The Center’s staff members are happy to
answer the stream of questions from visitors
eager to learn just how Singapore managed,
in the span of a generation, to reinvent mar-
riage, sex, and the family unit.
Scenario: Exploring Synthetic Biology
Three figures in white lab coats welcome you to the facility.
They ask you to take a seat and turn off all devices. As a vol-
unteer, you are free to withdraw at this stage, until each par-
ticipant signs a three-page boilerplate agreement covering
confidentiality and risk waivers. Then the clinical trial may
begin.
OCAD University’s Design xBiology Lab is testing #Collexitor,
a drug to remedy social-media addiction. Implants are placed
carefully on your inner arm, and a medical cocktail is orally
administered. The impulses that you and other participants
may have to share potentially newsworthy items are then
monitored. So far, the drug seems to work.
IMAGES COURTESY OF STUART CANDY
www.wfs.orgTHE FUTURIST35
Futures Education Special Report

  
 
 

 
 




 

     

 



 










 


 
    







 






 

 





     






Scenario: Collective Affluence
You have been invited to playtest the beta version of
Nousopoly: Toronto Edition.
A classic board game based on the winner-takes-all dynam-
ics of capitalism has been redesigned to reflect the multiple-
currency landscape of 2053. It still includes the good old dol-
lar, alongside credits for attention, social influence, skill, and
time. Its name is pronounced “New-opoly,” invoking not only
novelty but also the French pronoun nous, meaning “we” or
“us.”
Seated at tables of four to six, you and the other players
readily adapt to rules built on the familiar old ones. But this
version more faithfully mirrors the emerging social and eco-
nomic reality. For instance, you quickly find that shared own-
ership of property brings benefits to both players that indi-
vidual ownership does not.
IMAGES COURTESY OF STUART CANDY
Scenario: Media and Content Crimes
Together with 30 or so others, you are ush-
ered into rows of seats in a darkened room
by stern, uniformed officials. “All rise!” The
Content Crimes Tribunal is now in session.
Against the backdrop of an information
war, Marigold Lee has been charged with
producing and distributing unapproved con-
tent. Before your eyes, the prosecutor’s case
is mounted, backed by alarming video evi-
dence. Lee has sought to influence interna-
tional audiences by peddling such subver-
sive staples of “liberal” ideology as
same-sex relationships and universal health
care. With the nation’s very morality at
stake, it is clear that Lee—and her organiza-
tion, the Canadian Content Corps—must be
stopped.
36THE FUTURISTwww.wfs.org

Teaching the Future in a
History Department
By David Hochfelder, with Daniel
Russo and Alexander Nassrelgrgawi


 
  

 

 

 















    



Teacher’s perspective 








  


Student’s perspective

  




   


  


 

 



Stuart Candy (@futuryst) is director of the
Situation Lab and assistant professor of
strategic foresight and innovation at OCAD
University in Toronto, the world’s first aca-
demic program at the intersection of futures
and design, www.ocadu.ca. He holds an MA
and PhD in futures studies from the Univer-
sity of Hawaii at Manoa, and is a past mem-
ber of the Executive Board of the World
Futures Studies Federation.




  






     
   



     
 
Students debrief on their Futures of Governance Time Machine project.
IMAGES COURTESY OF STUART CANDY
Another Time Machine project created a customized textbook called Thought
Box to help individuals start their careers quickly.
www.wfs.orgTHE FUTURIST37
Futures Education Special Report