5 Futures

Today the future is an uncertain place, but this uncertainty doesn’t spring from ignorance of the challenges we must meet collectively. There are specific questions, well-defined problems, situations that attract the attention of experts around the world every day, making it possible for us to imagine some of the horizons that will define the coming decades. These range from the role of artificial intelligence and information technologies in society, the present drift of the liberal democracies, the crisis of political rights and freedoms, and the growing influence of authoritarianism, through to the challenge of climate change and our place as a species in the future of the planet. In order to be able to look ahead, we need to name these possible futures and let the knowledge we already have become a tool for transformation.

In this session, we shall hear five people from very different backgrounds and of a wide range of profiles presenting the futures they imagine. Five voices, five stories. The essayist Peter Frase will talk about capitalism and technology, while the philosopher Laura Llevadot will focus on the domain of political thought. The environmentalist and climate change activist Lucas Barrero will offer a plea across generations for climate justice, and the archaeologist Eudald Carbonell will discuss the part we have played as a species in a planet in crisis. From Chile, the writer Nona Fernández will seek in collective memory the tools for looking ahead. All of these viewpoints will be interlinked with the audiovisual intervention of the artist Marta Verde, who will highlight these possible futures with music and images.