Presentation by Michael Aschenbach at the World Future Society Conference 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota: July 31, 2007, 11:00 AM to 12:00 noon. This handout sheet provides general reference information about the presentation and information sources where you can find out more.
This term has several dimensions and meanings. 1. Vision is associated with clairvoyant forecasting of the future, prophecy, and prediction: reading the tea leaves. 2. Vision also means projecting a plan for a desired outcome: writing the future into being. The second definition is implicitly associated with ‘transformation,’ vision as a direction for change. We should further distinguish between the process of visioning and the content of a specific vision. Futurists should use processes that integrate the reading of trends with the writing of projected blueprints for transformation based on desired positive values.
The question we must ask, when using this term, is: transformation from what to what? The way I use the term, it means massive positive change and often implies surprizing shifts of ground, changes of worldview. In individuals, transformation means the shift from sleepwalking to awareness, from being entranced by our worldviews to being conscious of many worldviews and having the capacity to act and think independently from any of them. It means coming to know who and what we really are, as human beings in general and as distinct particular selves. In societies, transformation means moving from ethnocentric tribalism to embracing the whole of humanity and the whole of life. This is an integrative shift from partizan views to holistic views and ways of life.
As the many disciplines
associated with understanding human beings converge, a new human science is
emerging. From that process, we are beginning to accumulate sets of practices
and processes that constitute what I call ‘human technology.’ This tool-set is
helping us progress individually and helping us to more effectively develop
organizationally. Ultimately, this is leading to a Kuhnian revolution in
worldviews, not just incremental change along predictable pathways.
The exercizes in this presentation show a few small examples of human
technology.
VISION 3000:
The Transformation of Humanity
in the New Millennium
This
book provides further information about the topics explored in this
presentation. It is available from the conference bookstore, or from Amazon, or
from the following website:
www.emergingvisionmedia.com