Cultivating Empathy for the Future asks us to embody what the future might feel like by exploring potential implications and experiences of a diverse set of people living in multiple possible futures.
Empathy for the future helps us understand a much fuller range of the moral, ethical, social, and equitable human implications of different futures at the individual and communal levels. In doing so, we create a new sense of urgency, agency and responsibility to care for a fuller, more diverse range of possibilities for the people and the planet. Empathy for the future can also lift us above the challenges of the current moment and encourage us to dream bigger on behalf of our generations to come.
How does what we do today impact future generations and what responsibility do we owe them?
How do we connect with them?
Use the questions in this deck to drive conversations about the future with your community.
Consider something in pop media (song, TV show, movie) that represents a vision of coexistence. What are the elements of that vision? What are incentives, systems and cultures in place that support this vision?
Be A Good Ancestor by Leona Prince, Gabrielle Prince, illustrated by Carla Joseph
The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking by Roman Krznaric
The Optimists Telescope, Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age Bina Venkataraman
Native Nations Institute resources on 7th Generation Thinking
