As not-very-subtly hinted yesterday, I have another talk in the calendar, this one at the much better-known (and rather less polar-proximal) location of Copenhagen, taking place from 3pm CET on Thursday 25th April.

It’s always nice to be asked to give a talk, but it’s extra special when they make and print a poster for the event that has some real sci-fi rock-star vibes. Twenty-something Me would have loved seeing his name on a poster!

(Meanwhile, Forty-something Me has asked them to save me a copy so I can get it framed¹.)

The title is Worldbuilding: imagining hopeful futures in a changing climate, and the blurb goes like this:

One might summarise the work of a critical futurist with a proposition and a question: “The Future” is dead. What might we build instead?

The proposition should make emotional sense. The sense of grief and stasis that dominates the present is a form of mourning for a promise that will never be kept. It becomes clearer as we begin to see that all futures are narratives, and that “The Future” was always already an exercise in marketing.

The question, then, is our exit from grief: what might we build instead? Worldbuilding is the practice of imagining, envisioning and exploring the different ways that things might be. More simply, worldbuilding is storytelling—and there are many media and methods through which our futures might be (re)written.

Hope is hard to find in these challenging times. But there is good news: much like meaning, hope is not found, but made. Worldbuilding, together, is one way that we can make it. Let me show you how.

(I am on a bit of a crusade with regard to the whole worldbuilding thing, in case that wasn’t obvious.)

This one’s free to attend, and there’s a reception afterwards if you want to hang out and network (ugh), but you do need to sign up in advance, apparently. I’m guessing limited number of seats, you know? They’re assuming this will be a sell-out show, the hot ticket of the season, and who am I to doubt them on that front!

So get your space quick, and let me know if you’re coming; it would be nice to meet you.

1. Yes, I think it’s almost certainly based on a generative image. No, I’m not going to get snippy at a fairly small academic research group using a technology that I have personally renounced. I’ve got this idea about how it’s maybe possible to have principles without being a total arsehole about it? Granted I’m not seeing a lot of exemplars out there right now, but that’s all the more reason to try. ↩︎