Posts by Andrew Maynard

What a year it’s been! We’re living through some of the greatest social, political and environmental upheavals in decades as we grapple with a global pandemic, face off against endemic social injustice and inequity, and are reminded daily of the fragility of our relationship with the future.

Whichever way you look at it, 2020 is a year that has strained our relationship with the future like never before. And unless we rethink this relationship, we could be heading for a catastrophic breakup that will ultimately serve no-one.

Next week marks the start of Innovation Week + Innovation Quarter at ASU! This is a month-long celebration of all things innovation that’s designed to educate, engage and inspire. It also rather daunting as you’re faced with a mind-boggling number of events, seminars, courses, and other activities.

Whichever way you look at it, this has been a gruelingly tough year for everyone. And while there’s only so much we can do to change the circumstances we find ourselves in, we can at least encourage and support each other as we work through the challenges we face. With this in mind, I asked a few of the staff, students and faculty in the College of Global Futures to send me their favorite “happy places” YouTube videos last week to share with us all — those videos that make them feel a little bit better, despite all that’s going on.

On November 9th 1970, a 45 foot long dead sperm whale washed up on the Oregon coast, and found its way into modern American mythology. Looking back, it’s easy to see the story of Oregon’s “exploding whale” as an amusing anecdote of naively heroic failure. It was certainly one that found a welcome home in the national psyche, and even inspired an episode of The Simpsons!

Future building, it has to be said, is tough–really tough. Especially when the aim is to create a future that’s better than the past, and not just one that’s different. The irony is that we live in a time when there is so much incredible potential to build a better future. Our knowledge, our understanding, our imagination and creativity, and our capacity for innovation, all far-surpass those of previous generations.

If there’s one thing we cannot escape as we look to the future, it’s risk. Risk is inevitable in a universe where past “causes” connect in complex and often unpredictable ways with future “effects,” and every action we take leads to reactions that are detrimental to someone in some way.

It’s been a long haul — especially with coronavirus — but this week saw the publication of my book Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow! Future Rising is possibly one of the most important things I’ve published, and certainly the most personal — not because it’s intellectually weighty (it’s not), but because it connects ideas in ways that I think are critical to understanding our individual and collective relationships with the future, and the responsibility that comes with these.

What exactly is the future? This may sound like an odd question, but it’s surprising how often we barrel ahead trying to build a better future without pausing to think about what it is, and how this affects our relationship with it.