Spring Gathering 2025
Celebrating 50 years of Houston Foresight
A quick break from Dator’s Living Make-Belief, if you’ll indulge me. Last week was the annual Spring Gathering for the University of Houston Foresight Program. Last year’s experience was fantastic, but this year was particularly special.
Much of this was because the program’s 50th anniversary. Instead of the university campus, we met in Clear Lake, where the program had its genesis in the 1974-75 school year. There were retrospective events telling its history1, including a panel with early-years graduates and video messages from past leaders. In addition, Adam Cowart ran a drop-in workshop over the two days to update a 2003 project on the future of Futures to carry through to 2050 (I participated in the scanning portion).
Too much going on to mention it all, but I want to give a few images and examples of why I had so much fun:
My classmate and project-mate Autonnette McClaughlin presented on the possible future division of society into classes based on what information they are allowed to access. She made the experience immersive by having participants engage in a deeply chaotic game. Not surprisingly, I felt like I didn’t have enough information to play well…
Jess Robbins presented her work on applying quantum mechanics insights to foresight. I’ll be writing soon about Dator’s similar direction with “quantum governance.” It makes me think that rather than being a legitimate interpretation of the physics, what we’re seeing with these efforts is a shift in society’s metaphors as we move from the Newtonian paradigm of the Modern world to something more distinctly Postmodern.
Hausen Le hosted a “planetary party” where he took the presence exercises I described in November and added experiences around joy, relationship, and foresight. I want to see what he does with this work and how he can create tangible results. More self-confident and less self-conscious people than me wore futures costumes to the event.
Due to longer lifespans and more change in coming decades, Phong Nguyen has been building a program for personal futures somewhat like Sohail Inayatullah’s Personal Futures, having people perceive their circumstances, anticipate possible futures using CLA, transform from their current state using backcasting, and harness their enthusiasm with specific goals and tracking (conveniently, these steps spell out PATH). Personal futures is a promising way to increase public literacy and enthusiasm for futures, and I wish I had more time to think/work in this space.
During the event I was racked with insecurity, as I realized that all my clever little side projects weren’t so special. In particular, there’s a cadre working on modernizing the foresight process with digital technology (including AI), and all of them are further along in some aspects than I am. But! I realized that’s an opportunity for collaboration and sharing strengths, like assembling some sort of superhero team I don’t know I don’t watch those movies.
I also just remembered I did a lot at the conference: I presented my game project (nominated for an APF award), gave another presentation about writing as a learning tool (reflecting on all the benefits I get from this newsletter), and was interviewed by Joyce Gioia for her show It’s Your Future2. I’ve linked my slides, but it doesn’t capture the raw animal energy many have reported being swept away by after being in a room with me and a projector.
Thanks to Juli, April, and Nicci for all their work in organizing the event, and to everyone I talked to and interacted with over the weekend. I’d love to hear from any attendees what parts stood out to them.
Coda: Houston
Also, I was able to spend a little extra time in Houston and was surprised how much I love the city. We found great food (and ice cream), friendly people, and a Meow Wolf. Finally, the humidity made my hair look amazing. I used to see Houston as that city where the Masters program I love happens to be located, but now I could see myself living there3.
It was a bit scary to realize how close the program came to being cut around 2008; the closure of the Swinburne program in 2018 serves as another sobering example.
The interview is here; my section starts around the 24-minute mark.
Especially if we could scrape together enough money to live in the Heights.
It was great seeing you there! I think you are spot on about people reaching for a new governance metaphor. Quantum-the-buzzword fits the bill well enough, though mildly frustrating for those who understand a little bit of quantum science. As for other people making progress leaps, I've given up counting the number of projects I've put on my backlog list only to have someone else do it several years later (& usually better). Several were briefed last weekend. I'm learning to not self criticize on my idea backlog. Good ones generally happen when someone has the same need but less development obstacles. I think your regular writing is incredibly valuable futures exploration. Few of us can consistently deliver regular insights week after week on a schedule.
I wish I could have gone. I asked over 3 (possibly 4) months in advance for subtitles, reduced light, and other accessible features as an autistic person. I finally had to cancel because they wouldn't commit to this in a timely, even though this is a violation of both state and federal law. Unfortunately, between stuff like this and RFK, the future of neurodivergence acceptance isn't looking so good. Hopefully it's a future that I can still change. #AutisticPride