Thoughts Of The Future, And Where You Fit In: Part 2
Thoughts Of The Future, And Where You Fit In
A look into how your thoughts of the future affect your behaviour, the variety of futures that could unfold and famous thinkers and doers who feel the same.
Part 2 — Future Tribes
Following on from ‘Part 1 — Conflict or Ease’, of this three-part series, we are going to try to identify the various ‘Future Tribes’ that we all fall into.
‘Future Tribes’ are groups of people that share a common vision of what the future will look like. This vision uniquely directs the participants’ current behaviours, because, if you think the world is going to end tomorrow you’re going to behave differently to someone who thinks that a ‘Messiah’ is going to return in 20 years time.
This is why Intergalactic Contiki Custodians (Those who believe we’re going to eventually be a space fairing society) or the Sun Radiation Radicals (The know the Earth will eventually be destroyed by the Sun), are not included in this categorization of ‘Future Tribes’. Having beliefs about such a distant future dont affect their behaviour today, these futures are not near enough to elicit a sense of personal responsibility to act in a certain way today.
These 11 tribes are not mutually exclusive, you may dabble in a couple of them, which could result in a variety of behaviours. Self-identifying with too many of these groups could result in a sense of ‘Conflict’ as described in part 1. If you believe too many potential futures are possible, at least one of them is going to be in contradiction of another.
Here is the list of the 11 ‘Future Tribes’, if you self-identify with any of these, or your interest is peaked by them, go further down the post for descriptions and examples of them.
THE ‘FUTURE TRIBES’.
Doomsday Bunker Buyers | Technotopians | Beatles | Mad Max Marauders | Gaia Warriors | Hunky Dory Hopefuls | Prophetic Proponents | Singularitarians | Poverty Line Pullers | Hunger Gamers | Kardashians
#1 - The Doomsday Bunker Buyers
“I’ve just stocked up on 5 tons of tinned tuna, that should last me a couple of nuclear winters right?”
Prediction: There is going to be a universal world war, where no country can hide and weapons of mass destruction are used at will. Ultimately, resulting in humanity destroying itself.
#2 - The Technotopians
“Technology is evolving at such a rapid rate that we’re going to solve all these silly little problems. Ray Kurzweil and Kevin Kelly said so!”
Prediction: Technology is going to solve all our problems. We are currently outrunning the predictions of Moore’s law, there is no end to the potential that technological innovation can bring towards improving our lives, saving the planet and progressing the human race.
#3 - The Beatles
“Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be. There will be an answer. Let it be.”
Prediction: Whatever is going to happen is meant to happen. Who are we to think that we are so special and god like that we can’t destroy ourselves. If humans are the greatest thing since sliced bread, then it’ll all work out. If it doesn’t work out, then the world and life on it will start again…a little wiser.
#4 - The Mad Max Marauders
“The system has been designed to enslave us all. Rise up against institutionalized slavery, break down the system and be free, rise up!”
Prediction: The social and economic orders as we know them will collapse, resulting in fractured tribal societies fighting for resources and control. We must start over in order to rebuild, an order will reform out of disorder.
#5 - The Gaia Warriors
“Mother Gaia provides us with everything we need, we need to go back to her womb and heal. I have a lot of strong and opinions on this topic...”
Prediction: We need to go back to closely knit, agrarian societies that focus on community and living in harmony with nature. Modern day comforts are unnatural and can’t be sustained unless we continue to rape and pillage the Earth.
#6 - The Hunky Dory Hopefuls
“You wanna know what I think? It’s all gonna work out just fine. Not really sure what everyone is so pumped up about? According to most stats the world is better than its ever been, right?”
Prediction: The current social and environmental ills will be resolved through the market correcting itself and are a natural part of the continual growth of the world economy, they’re collateral damage.
#7 - The Prophetic Proponents
“The coming of lord [insert prophet] will spell the end of time. Repent your sins now or expect to live in eternal damnation!”
Prediction: The signs are everywhere that Armageddon is near, humanity has moved so far away from the teachings of [insert prophet] that a time of reckoning is upon us.
#8 - The Scaredy Singularitarians
“We have no systems or control around the development of AI. We’re creating a monster that will turn on us any moment now. Have you not watched the Matrix people!”
Prediction: We’re going to create general artificial intelligence that will reach a point after which we have no way of knowing how humanity will be effected. It is the logical conclusion that past this point humans will come off second best, as robot progress will exponentially outstrip that of humans. Resulting in the ultimate end of ‘humanity’ as we know it.
#9 - The Poverty Line Pullers
“I can’t even read, why are you asking me this question? Spare some change?”
Prediction: They’re the near 3 billion people on the planet that live on less than $2.50 a day, they simply don’t have the time or security to do anything other than ensuring the survival of themselves and their family. Their ‘future’ is dinner tonight on the table…and that in itself is pretty uncertain.
#10 - The Hunger Gamers
“A tiny minority of the population will command such massive resources of control (weaponry, knowledge, land, water, food) that they will force the world to perpetually work to their bidding.
Prediction: Things will not be too different from the current state of affairs, except it will be more extreme, blatant and not so nice. The ‘1%’ will enslave the ‘99%’ with a likeness to Vladimir and Mao.
#11 - The Kardashians
OMG, stop being so nerdy. Did you hear what happened in the Super Bowl last night?
Predictions: As a result of their lack of curiosity or empathy they have not considered their impact on directing the world towards a potential future that they desire, or anticipate occurring despite their actions.
Which ‘Future Tribe’ are you a part of?
Is this identification causing you ‘Conflict’ or ‘Ease’?
Are you contributing to your desired future, or merely flowing with someone else’s agenda?
