Project 2030 and Tomorrow Makers
What’s next for Project 2030?
I am thrilled and delighted to announce that as of today, Project 2030 has formally found a new home with Tomorrow Makers. We are now a For Purpose Events and Gaming Enterprise with a single, laser focus: the reshaping of global culture. We will use annual events called Chrysalis — the first of which is to take place in Turin, Italy in April 2019 — to design each iteration of a planetary-scale game, inspired by, but going well beyond, Buckminster Fuller’s World Game. The game is the tool by which we will socially engineer an entirely new culture, one based on the principles of Nature’s healthy living economies.
The idea of using gaming to socially engineer culture is nothing new and we are aware of a number of initiatives pursuing this lofty goal. The dawning realisation among all of these initiatives is that our world is accelerating towards collapse and that we cannot look to existing institutions for solutions — solutions must come from we, the people and gaming is one way of getting to these solutions in fun and engaging ways.
What inspires me about Tomorrow Makers is their long history and numerous case studies of using a methodology called DesignShopping™, which creates the environment for Group Genius to emerge. While I’ve not attended one of these events (yet), I’ve seen sufficient evidence that the process works and is precisely what’s required to tap into the planet’s collective intelligence. In addition, Tomorrow Makers has a network of more than 1,200 facilitators around the world trained in the methodology and access to locations designed specifically for these type of events. This incredibly special pool of resources (people, places and processes) will prove immensely valuable as we prepare to roll this out at scale.
I’m extremely excited about this new direction and we’ll be making further announcements soon, as well as publishing details about the game and calling for participants for the first Chrysalis event and designers for the game. You can follow our journey by signing up for updates at tomorrowmakers.org or even better, get involved.
Our Journey
Over the past few months I’ve had the immense privilege of working remotely yet closely with Gail Taylor, a celebrated participatory process designer featured by Fast Company and co-author of the Group Genius methodology and DesignShops, and Elisabet Sahtouris, an internationally-known evolutionary biologist, futurist, speaker, author, and sustainability consultant who uses Nature as a guide to design a better future for all. You can read more about how we work together here.
We all met in person for the first time in San Francisco, where we presented our plans to the Institute for Evolutionary Leadership on October 18th, 2018.
The presentation was so well received, and we were so unprepared for the level of interest expressed, that we had to spend the weeks following the presentation making sure that our online presence — a single place we could send interested parties to — was coherent. While we worked our way through formalising our online presence, we realised it made sense to formalise our coming together and our future intentions. I’m delighted that our agreement was formalised today and approved by the existing Tomorrow Makers Board.
On a personal level, I am thrilled to be doing this work on behalf of humanity in general and my daughter specifically. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and I think that’s what makes it so exciting. I started writing Postcards from 2035, Project 2030 and Society 4.0 just over a year ago. Each article became an attractor, which led to stimulating and challenging conversations. We’re trusting that the Tomorrow Makers process and game will become similar attractors — a safe space for similar thinkers (you’d be surprised at how many there are!) to come together to facilitate the very necessary transformation humanity needs. That’s why we’re calling our events Chrysalis.
Next Steps
We’re currently in the process of forming Circles of Conspirators. To conspire, in its literal sense, means “to breathe together.” It is an intimate joining. Our Circles are in some way similar to — yet very different from — a traditional Advisory Board. Circles are multi contextual. Each will dissolve when their project is completed. Conspirators can then sign up for another Circle or engage in other ways. You can find out more about conspiring with us here.
At the same time we’re starting to explore funding options. This is a tricky one for us, because we know how important it will be to work with a visionary, long-term philanthropic funder interested in systemic solutions and who doesn’t feel threatened by questioning the very system responsible for their wealth. If you know any of these rare individuals, please let me know!
That’s all for now. If you’re even slightly interested in following our journey, sign up for updates at tomorrowmakers.org. And do please reach out with any further thoughts, ideas or suggestions you might have.
Cape Town
December 2018
