Transdisciplinary Design

To place ourselves into the future we must look back, accessing our memories. This is demonstrated by individuals with compromised memories, without the ability to review their past they are unable to describe what their future could be like. To come together and create a shared future view we will need to access our past.

One dilemma is that our known world, our remembered world, defines what futures we can envision. It is the known that leads us to default to the status quo. We gravitate towards low risk to offset potential fears of the unknown – we simply can’t envision alternate options well enough based on our limited experiences. So how then do we make the leap together into the unknown? How do we use memory to construct and act on a shared future view?

How do we transform the unknown into the known? To do this we might stage new memories. By creating new emotionally charged experiences we could build the foundation for a new status quo. It might sound far fetched and even cult like to suggest the creation of ‘future building’ theme parks and boot camps for adults, however isn’t that in a way what TED is? A unique experience that started out as an exclusive retreat like event that is now a part of our everyday. New conferences sprout up each month trying to tackle problems by sharing knowledge. Open universities, skill centers, brain shares are all beginning to serve our need to expand our known world. In order for these to move beyond shared skills to common future action they will need to be structured to do so. They will need to incorporate triggers to elicit emotional resonance, strengthening connections to these new memories, making them accessible.

Do we need to access memories in new ways to envision our collective future? The context in which we access memories defines what will be recalled as well as whether or not new insight is added, or whether the connections to access the memory becomes stronger or weaker. If a close friend draws a memory out of you, searching and adding detail that memory may become richer and stronger. If however you are interrupted as you access your memory, this memory may be weakened. For a shared future vision we may need to create experiences that recall memories in scripted sequence to build a breadth of augmented memories. Now loaded with new insight, combine to create a groundwork for ‘future work’, the intentional effort of creating a futurable state.

Might we choose a more aggressive approach and create ‘memory rehabilitation’? I’m not suggesting the intentional removal of memories, although that may become common place, despite the clear warning signal from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I am suggesting a memory remix, rehab for the mind. A targeted approach, like gene manipulation – in this case to filter out our unhealthy bias. We might order this up as a cocktail combination of ‘smart pills’ and serious gaming, an immersive augmented experience. A SimFutures.

Your memories hold the key to our future visions – use them wisely.

For reference:
Frames of Remembrance by Iwona Irwin-Zarecka
On Collective Memory by Maurice Halbwachs
Memory and the Future by editors: Yifat Gutman, Adam Brown, Adam D. Brown, Amy Sodaro
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
The Scientific American Brave New Brain by Judith Horstman
Why Empathy Matters by J.D. Trout