How Should We Think About the Future?
with Margaret Heffernan, David Farrell and Ian Green
Fri 6 Mar 2020, 18:30-20:45 with interval
We The Curious
£10 / £8 / £4.50

We are addicted to prediction, desperate for certainty about the future. But the complexity of modern life won’t provide that; experts in forecasting are reluctant to look more than 400 days out. History doesn’t repeat itself and even genetics won’t tell you everything you want to know. Ineradicable uncertainty is now a fact of life. But thinking ahead is what we all do: planning careers, families, companies, countries. So how can we face the future if we don’t know what it holds?

Margaret Heffernan’s new book, Uncharted: How to Map the Future, argues that not knowing the future must not leave us passive. She looks at long-term projects developed over generations that could never have been planned the way that they have been run. Experiments, led by individuals and nations, discover new options, and radical exercises in forging new futures with wildly diverse participants allow everyone to create outcomes together that none could do alone. Existential crises reveal the vital social component in resilience. And preparedness – doing everything today that you might need for tomorrow – provides the antidote to passivity and prediction.

This session challenges us to resist the false promises of technology and efficiency and instead to mine our own creativity and humanity for the capacity to create the futures we want and can believe in.

Margaret Heffernan is joined by two people, each of whom appears within the book:

David Farrell, a political scientist who helped bring citizens’ assemblies to Ireland

Ian Green, Chief Executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, on existential crises

The future is forged by those who aren’t passive believers in forecasting – but by those who can think and act together. Join us for an evening of exploration and invention.

This is an extended evening event with an interval. There will be a bar at this event.

This event is in partnership with We The Curious.

£4.50 PARTNER RATE is for staff, students or members at the following organisations: Arts Council England, Bristol City Council, Business West, University of Bristol and UWE.

Please note that you will be asked of proof for your eligibility of a concession ticket. Concessions apply to Full Time Students, Job Seekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit claimants, over 60s and disabled people. The Partner Rate applies to those working at the following organisations: Arts Council, Bristol City Council, Businesswest, University of Bristol and UWE. Please note that no refunds/exchanges are possible for tickets already purchased at the higher price.

Please ensure you use the correct email address. This is where your ticket will be sent. If you do not provide the correct address, you will not receive the acknowledgement email or ticket.

Please note we only refund tickets if the event is cancelled. Events start punctually and, out of consideration to other audience members and speakers, our policy is not to admit or issue refunds to latecomers.

Full terms and conditions, including our Privacy Policy, can be found on our website.

Festival of Ideas: How Should We Think About the Future?