Thoughts Of The Future, And Where You Fit In: Part 1
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 who think the same.
Part 1 - Conflict or Ease
Us humans, being social creatures, we organize ourselves into ‘idea tribes’ in our perfectly reasonable attempt to ease the sheer weight of being alive. One of the main idea tribes present, which has a large effect on one’s values and beliefs, is how we view society, and the planet, looking like in the future.
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
― Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
What is meant by ‘future’ is the idea of the future that you have, that reasonably directs your present behaviour. If you think the world is going to end tomorrow, you’re going to behave radically different to if you think that a ‘Messiah’ is going to return in 20 years time. We’re all scurrying to push the present towards a future that we feel is ‘right’. If you think we’re going to be a space-faring society by 2100, that’s not going to change your current behaviour.
You can imagine your view of what the future should look like, and what it will look like, as two interacting concepts in your head. Your behavior is characterized by whether your views of ‘should’ and ‘will’ are in CONFLICT or at EASE.
There is no moral judgement attached to falling into either group, these groups merely provide more understanding of the way you operate.
CONFLICT
- “I think that society should look like Y, but I think it will look like X.”
- When in ‘Conflict’, views of should and will are in contradiction. You feel a need to be in defiance of the future that will happen and will act to bring about the future that should happen.
EASE
- “I think that the future should look like X, and I think it will look like X.”
- When at ‘Ease’, views of should and will are aligned. You feel your behaviour is in sync with and contributing towards the future that will and should happen.
We all have a view of what will and should happen in the future, no one is ‘indifferent’ to the future. You behave with the intention to bring about a desired future, whether it’s for yourself, your family, political party or humanity as a whole.
