This is an unconference proposal I just submitted for the upcoming Second Renaissance/Life Itself Conference. But I’ve been “doing the time warp” since the 1970’s, so why wait for calendars and so forth? “Now” is the only moment that matters anyway. This was actually presented to North Seattle College faculty last week, and I liked what we got out of that 60 minute session. The only problem was, I was not able to furnish pre-readings. That’s not a problem here. Pre-readings in the links.
So is this an encore of my NSC preso last week? Is it a teaser-trailer for my upcoming 2R research call on 21 November? It is shameless lobbying to get my unconference preso accepted by the committee? Is it a harbinger of some version 2.0 in a future cycle? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And yes to other events and production no one yet has begun to imagine!
Title: Futurism in the Age of AI
How can we navigate an uncertain future? The model proposed for discussion applies historical pattern recognition to the present, making practical judgements about likely results when competing trends collide. This presentation will provide no absolute answers, but it will raise many pertinent questions.
This topic follows two draft chapters of a forthcoming OER text due for release in early 2026. These drafts are here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18qiK9qAXR7IcrYpx70X1L314e2EjfCMu?usp=drive_link . The treated topics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies, coupled with events of early 2025 inspired additional reflection on the theme of practical action in a chaotic world. As 2025 draws near to its close, such chaos navigation models seem if anything growing in urgency. Will AI save us? Or will it end us? What about the rest of the polycrisis or metacrisis risk factors? Plenty of alternative futures to sort!
Beyond the content above, stands a larger synthesis (or sketch of a synthesis), pulled together last summer. This may or may not get published at some point, but it exists in current form for discussion support. Those desiring a deeper theoretical treatment of the workshop’s theme are welcome to sample this longer document as well. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EZjLV4QVlRNhFms2BbpD6HZw3UGRf3wCyTEX9DjOf-M/edit?usp=sharing
Presenter: Robert Bunge
Objective: Promote discussion of alternative futures grounded by research-attested historical patterns.
Format:
1. Slide deck overview (30 minutes maximum) Q&A very welcome during the slides!
2. Breakout room discussions (about 20 minutes)
3. Large group report out and popcorn discussion (remaining time)