Schedule FSCONS X

The future isn't what it used to be. Across the western countries, people have lost faith in the basic promise of economic progress, that each generation will grow up to lives of greater prosperity, security and opportunity than their parents' generation. This is feeding troubling political developments that disrupt the 'normal' functioning of democracy: the Brexit vote, the rise of parties like the Sweden Democrats, the prospect of President Trump.

Against this background, I want to share some thoughts about what it would mean to disentangle our thinking and our hopes from the cultural logic of progress - a set of interlocking assumptions which are embedded in many of the ways we currently try to make sense of the world, but which leave us badly placed to navigate the mess in which we now find ourselves.

This is not about just standing the logic of progress on its head and embracing a romantic longing for a golden age, nor am I arguing for the lazy relativism often associated with 'postmodernism'. But I think it is both possible and necessary, while avoiding these traps, to find a way of living, thinking and acting for change 'in the absence of progress'. And it seems particularly interesting to bring this conversation to FSCONS, since technology has been so tightly entangled with the logic that I'm bringing into question.

Info

Day: 2016-11-12
Start time: 11:00
Duration: 00:45
Room: Conference Room
Track: FSCONS X
Language: en

Links:

• iCalendar