Memories From the Year 2030 is a collection of fictional letters, memos and visual artifacts created by a group of futurists, speculative designers, authors and artists. Read the entire series here.
POSSIBILITY HOURS
A month in a week
A week in a day
Far too long for
Far too many
Look within
Take account
Worlds Upside-down, Inside-Out
Fashion, commerce, culture, nature
Different paces, different speeds
Seek attention, seek power
Cycling round 24 hour
Echo chamber bliss
Keeps on blowing
Until you question
Who tailwinds favor
Worlds Upside-down, Inside-Out
Birds sang clear
Good news breakers
Change for every reason
The future was here
All of a sudden
All along
Worlds Upside-down, Inside-Out
About the piece: We made it! 2030. I share this poem that I've been regularly reciting over the past 10 years, since 2020. I wrote it to remember the feelings of those months. For some time, we had an empathy/apathy problem. Living in silos, listening to our own echo chambers prevented us from working together, let alone understanding what one another needs! The world’s problems are so complex that they require us to work together in unprecedented ways. But, good news, we’re surrounded by design! We shape our environment and it shapes us. Possibility Hours are ecosystems of people, places, props, and protocols that shape and steward community-created futures. I read it aloud at the beginning of each Possibility Hours session to never forget the year 2020.
Scott Paterson is the Founder & CEO of Adventuring Ventures, a strategic design incubator that partners with public and private organizations to envision and build human-centered cities. His expertise spans from a career in architecture to award-winning design consultancies frog design and IDEO, artworks in the Walker Art Center and Whitney Museum’s permanent collection, and teaching at IESE, CCA, and Parsons.