The core mission of Risk & Progress has always been to educate, inspire, and invest in concepts that promote a better future for all. Over the past couple of years, I have devoted my efforts primarily to the “education” aspect of this mission. But with Risk & Progress now reaching people in some 82 countries, I realize that I could do a lot more on the “inspiration” front.
For this reason, I am launching Envision 2100, where I invite writers to envision what life could be like in the year 2100. I am looking for quality pieces of writing, 800-1500 words in length, that present an optimistic vision of the future that is grounded in the reality of the present.
Will we have a colony on Mars? Achieve quasi-immortality? End wars? Rely exclusively on sustainable energy? Travel hypersonically on holiday? Will we have a robot in every home freeing us from mundane tasks? There is no limit to your imagination or human ingenuity.
Chosen pieces will be featured as guest posts here on Risk & Progress and, with the authors’ expressed permission, included in the Envision 2100 time capsule.
The Time Capsule
Progress is a funny thing. Technology enables us to communicate easily through three-dimensional space. I can publish the words on this page where they can be read by just about anyone on planet Earth. But this capability has come at the cost permanence of those words, or our ability to communicate through the fourth dimension: time.
As technology has progressed, it has also become less predictable. Looking decades forward, there is certainly no guarantee that Substack’s servers will still be humming, or that data stored on a USB will be readable. For this reason, all selected pieces will be printed onto physical paper, encased in a time capsule, and buried (location TBD), where they will be opened and read by future generations on 1/1/2100. My hope is that future humans will be able to read and enjoy what we have written from the comfort of a prosperous world. If not, then hopefully at the very least, we present a vision that they could still aspire to.
If you would like to contribute to Envision 2100, there are three ways to do so:
Contribute a moment of your time by sharing Risk & Progress so we can receive more quality submissions. The more the better!
Submit your inspirational writings for consideration as guest posts.
Donate toward the project, so we may purchase a larger and better time capsule.
Thank you for participating in Envision 2100 and I look forward to reading what inspires you!
J.K. Lund
Congratulations on your 82 country global reach.
When I realized that my oldest granddaughter would be 91 years old in 2100, I also realized this project is really a generation skipping one. Hard to imagine what life for her will be like, let along her children.
Certainly the guesses at technological progress will be "almost close" at best, and probably really off, but trying to ascertain the geopolitical environment that far out is perhaps the trickiest part: one or two major wars? Mass migrations? Major plague or disease event? And many Western countries have a major bankruptcy to work through - defaults will happen, but unknown just what form they will end up taking (but probably the lying weaselly inflationary path).
I understand the Japanese have/ had an outlook trying to judge their situation 100 years out, while most of us can't even manage to see 4 to 30 years out with any pretense at accuracy.
But a useful project to explore in any case, so good luck with it. And decent risk analyses should be part of that exercise!! :-)
Nice idea. What is the deadline for submissions? I'd like to participate, but am very busy with writing a thesis. I'd prefer to focus more seriously on it in July instead of scrampbling an article in 1-2 days.