Gamers bringing us Speculative Optimism : "The first step into realising our agency is to imagine what we want the future to look like"
We’re being useful at the Daily Alternative if our stories are surfacing kindred spirits, pursuing projects you should know about. We got this email from Ludogogy magazine’s Sarah Le-Fevre the other day:
I was particularly struck by the A/UK story about the innovation project in Uganda, inspired by ‘Black Panther’. It really resonates with a project I am currently running called Speculative Optimism, which is all about using the power of optimistic speculative fiction to inspire people to create better futures for people and planet. The Ugandan story described precisely what I am trying to achieve with Speculative Optimism.
We have a whole Futures strand which exactly resonates with this take. Sarah has sent us a kind of press release - though a very thoughtful one - which we are happy to reprint below:
Pessimistic narratives about the future make us believe we cannot take the action necessary to build a better world; that it is "already too late." Optimistic speculation frees us to believe that we can make a difference and lets us imagine what that better future looks like, so we can plan exactly how to build it.
More people than ever want positive action on "wicked problems" (67% of people expressed a desire for climate action in a YouGov poll in November 2020), but the narrative around issues like climate and racism, is relentlessly negative, leaving those who want to act clear on what they don’t want, but unclear on the positive steps they can take.
Ludogogy, a UK-based games-based learning magazine has launched a project which aims to approach wicked problems playfully, creatively, and above all, optimistically.
Sarah Le-Fevre, Ludogogy's editor, said, "We can start to believe that the future is already written, not something which we can proactively influence, and build according to our own needs, and the needs of future generations. The first step into the realisation of our agency is to imagine what we want the future to look like."
Speculative Optimism welcomes anyone to participate in a co-creation project. We seek first to imagine better futures, then provide a platform for projects to move towards those futures, and finally to create an approach to organisational learning to spread the practice of Speculative Optimism.
We want to help businesses and other organisations find ways to innovate for their own future success, finding opportunities in areas that move social, planetary and economic systems towards greater health.
Participants in the project will learn skills in Futures Thinking, writing craft and other creative skills, and build a resilient mindset, to face the future more optimistically, with an enhanced ability to spot and exploit opportunities for ethical innovation.
Sarah Le-Fevre said, "Much as we all love ‘Black Mirror’ there is a need, and appetite for, work that inspires because you read it and think ‘I want this’. Speculative fiction has always inspired innovation, and I think if we actively bring the SF and the innovation together in one place, we could start to see projects that make a real difference."
The project seeks participants to join the first stage, the creation and publication of a book of Speculative Optimism stories, and other written word messages from the future – as well as concrete artifacts of a better tomorrow.
We are also seeking Futurists, Writers, Editors, Graphic Artists and anyone else with skills that could support the project.
Participation is free for anyone who wants to join in, but participants can choose to pay, if they can afford to, and if they want to help cover the costs of maintaining the project platform, the publication of the book and other project related costs. We would also welcome sponsors who wish to support this project without participating.
Speculative Optimism is open to all, regardless of location, or previous experience of writing or futurist practice. Join us here [and onboard here].
We encourage you to sample some editions of Ludogogy - obviously and especially their March “Futurism” edition - some links below: