World Futures Day 2023
Details
World Futures Day is celebrated each year on March 1.
In 2023, for the tenth occasion, futurists and members of the general public will gather online during World Futures Day for a relaxed, open, no-agenda round-the-world 24-hour conversation about possible future scenarios.
People are welcome to join and leave this event at any time(s) that are convenient for them throughout the day. The meeting will commence at 12 noon New Zealand time (in UK time, that will be 11pm on the previous evening) and continue for 24 hours in total.
It's a chance to renew collaborations and friendships, and to kindle some new ones!
The event will be held on Zoom. There is no separate Zoom registration on this occasion, nor any charge to take part.
After you RSVP 'Yes', a Zoom link to join the event will be shared with you on the "Online event" panel on this Meetup page. Please keep that link to yourself and don't forward it.
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The conversation is hosted by The Millennium Project, a global foresight participatory think tank, in collaboration with a number of partners:
- The Association of Professional Futurists (APF)
- Humanity+ (H+),
- The Lifeboat Foundation
- The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)
- The World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF).
24 hour Zoom facilities are being provided courtesy of London Futurists.
Representatives of the above organisations have already signed up to facilitate discussions for one hour at a time throughout the 24 hours.
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Topics that featured in World Futures Day conversations in previous years have included:
- Responses to COVID-19 and future pandemics
- Governing the transition to Artificial General Intelligence
- Travelling and living in space
- The future of work
- Addressing climate change
- Fighting transnational organized crime
- Developing future forms of democracy
- Countering information warfare
- Incorporating futures generations and global ethics in decision-making
- Enforcing safety standards for synthetic biology
- The future of humanity: transhumanism and beyond?
This year, topics will depend on the ideas brought to the table by participants.
I will be listening into the event at various times throughout the 24 hours. In case the conversation ever becomes bogged down or loses its way, here are the questions I'll be injecting into the flow:
- What are the best examples of futurists actually changing the world?
- What issue isn’t being taken care of, which deserves more attention from futurists?
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Selected parts of the day will feature some special guest attendees. For example, we will be joined at 11 am East Coast US time by
- Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer and VP and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google
- Theodore Gordon, Futurist pioneer at RAND, Institute for the Future, Futures Group, and The Millennium Project.
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In attending this event, you agree to observe Chatham House rules: if you share any of the output from this event in subsequent blogs, media articles, or emails, you can quote what you've heard, but without naming the people speaking (unless a speaker clearly indicates otherwise).
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Image credit: the image includes a design by Pixabay user Gerd Altmann, used with thanks!