How do you envision a future in the wake of the Inwards revolution?

In multiple online and in-person citizien engagement workshops, we shared and viewed ‘Inwards’ and asked the participants to share their hopes, fears, and expectations of a future inspired by the artefact. Scroll down to view the insights.

EXPLORE STATEMENTS

During the workshops, we asked participants to share their insights and visions of the world described by the artefact. Afterward, we asked all participants to rate each other’s statements based on their positive or negative connotations and whether they see the statement as something they expect from the future. The matrix below shows all submitted statements and clusters them based on the overall ratings. We used a trained AI to anonymously summarise each statement in a short narrative based on these results (see next section).

Futures Garden Inwards Chart

READ NARRATIVES

These narratives were created based on the statements in the matrix above gathered during the citizen engagement workshops. Participants shared their insights inspired by the artefacts, which were then fed anonymously into an AI to construct expansive and diverse future scenarios. Each story is a unique blend of human creativity and machine intelligence, aimed at enriching your understanding of the artifacts and inspiring a deeper contemplation of possible futures.

POSITIVE EXPECTATIONS

Based on 67 opinions and 153 ratings.

AI, VR Boosting Emotional Awareness, Well-being

Future society may shift towards enhanced emotional awareness via AI and VR technologies.
Improved self-reflection could foster empathy, inclusivity, and stronger relationships.
Balance might be sought between technology, traditional mental health practices, and nature consciousness.
In the future, society might experience a profound shift towards enhanced emotional awareness and well-being, largely facilitated by advancements in AI and VR technologies. We may learn to understand and control our emotions better, managing our lives more effectively amidst an overwhelming and busy world. This heightened self-awareness could lead to a deeper understanding of our individual and collective needs, fostering empathy and inclusivity, and facilitating the cultivation of stronger relationships.
Simultaneously, improved self-reflection may enable us to communicate more effectively with each other. People might become less reliant on technology for self-understanding, instead opting for practices like meditation and walking. The era of obsessive substance use for numbing negative feelings might diminish. Furthermore, the ubiquity of AI psychological therapy might alter the landscape of mental health, although it would not replace human-led therapy.
Despite the potential of technology, society might equally value non-technological human interactions and traditional practices for maintaining mental health. There might be a heightened focus on responsible and ethical development and deployment of technology. The future could also witness a balance attained between individual and collective needs, leading to a renegotiation of social values. Finally, this inward revolution might catalyze a shift from materialism towards nature consciousness, potentially reducing humanity's problems and encouraging a more harmonious coexistence.

EXPECTED CHALLENGES

Dystopian Future: Technology Manipulates Emotions

Based on 67 opinions and 248 ratings.

Future technology might manipulate public emotions, eroding personal privacy and community spirit.
Overreliance on technology for emotional management could lead to detachment from humanity, and privacy violation.
Overuse of technology could lead to superficial social connections, overthinking, and potential exploitation of personal data.
In a future scenario, widespread emotional control and the public's emotional states might be manipulated, potentially leading to an erosion of personal privacy and a decrease in community spirit. The ability to feel and effectively manage one's emotions could be compromised, potentially leading to individuals becoming emotionally numb and losing touch with their authentic feelings. Technology could become a crutch for managing psychological care, and an overreliance on it might lead to a detachment from our humanity. There might also be an increased risk of intrusion into individuals' private emotions, leading to a violation of privacy. This technological control over emotions could potentially lead to a dystopian future characterized by superficial social connections, individualism, and a lack of spontaneity. In this potential future, an inward revolution might result in increased self-centeredness and anxiety. Furthermore, the overuse of innovative technologies could diminish the authenticity of human emotions and lead to a surge in overthinking and action paralysis. This future might only be accessible for emotional elites who have the mental training and capacity for such an inward reality. There is also a concern that most personal data gathered in AI therapy could be exploited for highly targeted advertising, infringing on personal privacy and autonomy. Finally, there may be potential societal conflicts and ethical issues related to ownership and access to personal information.

HOPEFUL DREAMS

Based on 19 opinions and 52 ratings.

A Future Society Focused on Empathy, Not Wealth

Future society may prioritize self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal communication over monetary gain.
Increased understanding of human emotions could improve mental health and interpersonal connections.
Despite potential threats to democracy, enhanced technology could foster empathy and respect.
In the future, humanity could potentially witness a profound inward revolution, resulting in heightened self-awareness, empathy, and effective interpersonal communication. This transformation might give rise to a society less focused on monetary gain and more attuned to the needs and differences of its members. The role of technology could shift to a less central one, enabling deeper reflection and fostering increased connection with nature, contributing to collective well-being. As a by-product, stress levels might decrease and a safe, inclusive, and understanding environment could be established.
The erosion of capitalism might occur when emotional understanding truly converges, leading to a complete redesign of our human identity. A beneficial outcome could be that emotional health becomes a serious consideration, potentially reducing mental health issues. Further, a deeper understanding of the human mind could enhance connections between individuals.
Nonetheless, the increased dependency on technology might also pose threats to democracy by making individuals more susceptible to influence. Despite these risks, the enhanced technology could also serve to better our empathetic listening skills. A future world where respect and gentleness are commonplace traits is envisioned. However, this future is a challenging prospect considering the current societal structure, with its potential benefits likely skewed toward the rich.

DISTANT THREATS

Based on 58 opinions and 123 ratings.

Future Risk: Emotional Control and AI Dominance

Future workplaces might prioritize emotions, potentially leading to loss of individuality and controlled social interactions.
Rise of 'Loneliness 3.0' could isolate individuals, emphasizing the need for empathy and collaboration in society.
Mandatory emotional uniformity and reliance on digital therapies could erode personal connection and collective decision-making.
Dependence on devices for understanding emotions could increase apathy and reduce real-world experiences.
AI dominance could erode privacy, create technology dependence, and increase mental health crises.
Increased self-obsession and decision-making by select interests could lead to wide-scale narcissism and reveal hidden power structures.
Future risks include increased self-obsession, artificial realities, enforced emotional control, and potential misuse of emotional surveillance.
In the future, humanity may oscillate from workplaces devoid of emotion to those where feelings are paramount. As emotions are potentially equalized, individuality could dissolve leading to predictable and restricted social interactions. A systemic interference in personal lives might steer us towards a totalitarian reality where machines might control human emotions and chaos could ensue.
Technologies might not enhance deep self-reflection, which must spring from intrinsic motivation. Our societies could see the rise of 'Loneliness 3.0', where constant self-reflection and supervision alienates and isolates individuals. In lieu of this, holistic approaches, such as empathy and collaboration, could promote a world that works for everyone.
Mandatory emotional uniformity might rob people their agency and exert psychological pressure. The expansion of digital therapeutic methods could compromise the sanctity of personal human connection, reducing the complexity of emotions to simple components. This scenario might further marginalize politics, diminishing collective decision-making.
A reliance on devices understanding our minds better than we do could lead to an eerie loss of introspection. As a result, humanity could turn inward, resulting in a marked increase in apathy and inertia. The future might see lives dominated by the virtual world, with real-world experiences reduced to a minimum.
In this AI-dominated world, privacy might erode, leading to uniform, unhappy existences. People could become dependent on technology, viewing it as indispensable for their survival. Wealthy individuals might afford real-world interactions, while others satisfy their emotional needs through technology. Such a future could witness a surge in mental health crises, accelerated by social media and AI.
This self-obsessed future might risk our emotional understanding and autonomy, leading to wide-scale narcissism. In such a world, decision-making might be relegated to autonomous bodies representing select interests. Fears over certification schemes and access control might rise, shedding light on hidden power structures.
While some may view this revolution as an answer to certain paradoxes, it risks leaving emotionally less intelligent individuals behind. The future could be rife with increased self-obsession, artificial realities, and enforced emotional control. The advent of emotional surveillance might lead to potential misuse, endangering privacy and individuality.