Future Imperfect: Critical Approaches to Foresight Deliberation
Talk by Cynthia Selin at the Joint Research Centre (28 May 2015)
Scientific thought, advances in technical systems and artifacts, and social dynamics evolve together, but often in surprising ways. Over time, uncertainties bloom and propagate. The future comes to the fore as a space populated with risks, dreams, delusions, expectations, hypes and hopes. Much is at stake in systematically and rigorously engaging with the future, whether the concern is economic (which investment?), political (who wins? who loses?), social (which norms prevail?) or environmental (how sustainable?). This talk will introduce the idea of future-oriented deliberation, referencing a constellation of theoretical and methodological approaches that work to cultivate reflexivity and extend engagement regarding the complex evolutions of science, technology and society.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Selin investigates scenarios, innovation, sustainability and the governance of emerging technologies. Currently a Marie Curie Fellow in the Management Engineering Department at the Technical University of Denmark, Dr. Selin conducts research into the evolving practices of scenarios, with a special interest in the role of design, visualization and big data. She is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University in the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and the School of Sustainability. She is a Senior Scholar in the Global Institute of Sustainability. In the NSF funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Dr. Selin directs a large research program focused on Anticipation and Deliberation, fusing concerns about foresight methods and public engagement with emerging science and technology. Building on decades of experience with nanotechnology, she has in recent years focused attention on large technical systems and infrastructure with inquiries related to sustainability and the energy sector, including climate change. Dr. Selin is also an Associate Fellow at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and teaches in the Oxford Scenarios Programme.
Contro Corrente is a series of seminars with renowned scholars and practitioners of science and technology studies, aiming at raising awareness of science and technology studies and how these types of reflexive activities can help with scientific practice at the Joint Research Centre.
For more information, please visit: http://sts.jrc.ec.europa.eu
