Playground
Concept
As a growing population sharing a shrinking planet, we stand at an existential crossroads: do we bring the mistakes of the enlightenment and industrialization to its logical conclusion or could we develop a capacity to reprogram ourselves as species, in order to survive? Some of the solutions could be technical but most of the obstacles are not.
The powerful tools that could help us manage the climate emergency are being used to manage us instead, by multinationals and foreign governments, through surveillance, manipulation, and escapism. Apocalyptic narratives of destruction, natural selection and space colonization distract us from the urgent need for resource management and disaster mitigation.
Politically, the principles of liberal democracy have been put to test. Pre-fascistic leaders are democratically elected, from Narendra Modi in India to Victor Orban in Hungary or Turkey’s Erdogan. After his refusal to engage in climate action and brutal backlash against migrants and refugees, Donald Trump was the second most voted presidential candidate in US history, after Joe Biden.
Aksioma’s Reprogramming series will aim at responding to these two questions: what will it take for humanity to change course and build a responsible future for generations ahead, and what can really be accomplished when we finally do. The focus will be on solutions, finding tools, words or visions across the different disciplines, from energy and infrastructure to community building and AI.
We will analyze strategies used by successful communities and proposed by social and scientific institutions to help us reset and find the way back. Not to the way it was but the way it should have been: an engaged community that encompasses all the living things on Earth.