WTF: What is the future?
For people following Algorhythmlab blogs and podcasts, you would know that over the past few weeks we’ve had one Kirk Lynch from AgriG8, a purpose driven, solution focused, social enterprise designed to align, collaborate, de-risk and grow value chains and ecosystems within the agricultural industry in South Africa,
featured a lot on our media platforms. His talks and discussions about the future inspired the thoughts I am about to introduce here.
From his delivery of Shared Value MasterClass at the University of Zululand a few weeks ago, an appearance at The Next Billionaire (A TV show that airs on 1KZNTV every Tuesday) to his private MasterClass delivery at Algorhythmlab offices situated at RBIDZ Technohub, Kirk continuously talks about one thing; the future. As the co-founder of AgriG8 that is all they are about. Opening up an environment that forwards small farmers an opportunity to take part in the South African sugar cane economy on a larger scale
All this together with some of our private chats got me thinking. He together with the philosophy of Algorhythmlab got me asking myself; in reality what the fuck does the future look like? In truth, the future is what we make. That is why at Algorhythmlab.com we continuously invest in these discussions.
Bear with me; I am no philosopher; nor am I a Political Scientist. I had never taken any humanitarian or humanities or even Social Sciences course until recently when a course called “Justice” by Michael Sandel on EdX caught my attention. Within two weeks, I had managed to go through half the course and already thinking about the philosophies presented in that class. The course got me thinking like a philosopher.
First of all, let me define a few of these philosophical terms (For your information definitions here are from Wikipedia): First, it is Capitalism, an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit (in simple terms, what I produce is mine and what you produce is yours. there’s no need for me to share) then Socialism, a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers’ self-management, as well as the political theories and movements associated with them (In simple terms whatever we produce we share).
Allow me to keep it to these two for now. I only took one course after all although there was a few more complicated philosocial terms
Now back to my point; by now we should have a new different philosophical term that put into consideration technology, platform thinking, shared value and most importantly human equality, health and environmental prosperity. While sitting and contemplating on this topic, I felt silly when I tried to come up with a word or term for my self. I am a producer in technology but I am not one in philosophy, never mind language.
“Maybe there is no need to invent a new word. Maybe no one really need to” I thought to myself. As Africans, our languages and philosophers over the years developed words that give me meaning what the world never thought possible but was a way of life for us. As Africans, we are raised with shared value in mind. When you visit deep rural areas across the continent, you find many groups of men and women working together and sharing value. From farm fields which their mothers and fathers left for them; the only piece of land they have ever known; to grazing different family herds of cattle together. We live shared value
In these areas, no matter how poor anyone is no child ever goes hungry. “My child is the child of the community” as an African proverb would say and for these communities, working together, sharing value, technology, life love and preparing for the future is the day to day’s way of life. When one cries the whole community cries with them. When one is happy they all share in the happiness. One family’s best year of harvest is prosperity to the whole community. They share clothes and refer business to each other. Whenever a neighbour gives birth to a newborn, good wishes are sent, more importantly, you will see neighbours visiting the child with bags full of clothes and other necessities that belonged to one neighbour’s child when they were young. Do you know what we call this futuristic way of life? We call it Botho in Sepedi, Setswana and Sesotho and Ubuntu in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Siswati and Swahili. There is no existing English philosophical word that directly translates this word.
To sort of understand the depth of this philosophical word; BOTHO or UBUNTU, according to Wikipedia, in English, Botho or Ubuntu means “I am because we are”, “humanity towards others” or “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”. After gaining the understanding of this word, I wondered why I would disrespect my African ancestors by trying to come up with a new word to describe the future when they have seen the future before me. I then concluded to myself, hopefully helping anyone reading this understand that from all these facts outlined, whenever you talk futurism, shared value, technology, platform thinking, social impact and all these new words and try to predict WTF (What the future looks like) and end up asking yourself what we call the word to explain this philosophy of the future, we all have no choice but to use the philosophical word Botho or Ubuntu.
We, therefore, have Socialism loosely translated to everything for everyone, Capitalism which loosely translates to what I produce is mine and finally, we can tell what the future looks like by using the philosophical word Botho or Ubuntu which loosely translates to “I am because we are”. We are forced to understand that Capitalism does not have a seat in the future neither does socialism but only BOTHO or UBUNTU.
Originally published at Algorhythmlab.
