This post shall discuss my time at the WFSF XXC World Conference at École des Ponts Business School, Paris which had events from the 23rd October to the 27th October. 2023. Forgive me for the delayed post.

I arrived in Paris on the 23rd after flying from Newcastle Airport to Charles De Gaulle Airport. This allowed me to attend some of the workshops on the Tuesday. The first session I attended was on Performative Postnormal Times led by Wendy Schultz and Victoria Ward. In groups, we designed a town which was asked to reduce energy usage over a time period, we took on roles of different stakeholders. I was a farmer and a mayor. Periodically, events were introduced into the narrative that emphasised the postnormality of the simulation. This session made me realise how difficult problem-solving is into a multi-stakeholder environment. Heavy was the metaphorical ‘crown’ upon the mayor and the farmer and of course the other stakeholders. Helpfully, it reminded me how complex complex problems are.

I then attended Felting Futures/Futures Felt facilitated by Stefanie Ollenburg and Roumiana Gotseva. In silence, we created an island using multiple types of craft materials, like felt. But the creation of the island took unexpected directions, like the future, I started using post-it notes and drawing on them, as did others in my group. After this I was chosen to move tables and to ask questions about another group’s islands. I had to ask them why they took certain decisions in the process of creating their island as well. Overall, it was another fun session that taught some valuable lessons about intuition.

Wednesday 25th was the official start of the conference. It started with the introductory talks, followed by a keynote polylogue involving Craig Slee, Loes Damhof, Martin Calnan and the audience about disability and futures studies. Overall, it got us to think about our bodies and the environment that shapes the way we can and do act. After this the parallel sessions started and first was mine. I talked about transdisciplinarity and how it has an ontology of liminality, I used artwork to talk about ontological distance- a concept I am trying to build up and will possibly use in my thesis. The rest of the talks were quite philosophical, but also practical, in my session. I particularly enjoyed Jan Berlage’s paper on time as he attempted to unify different conceptions of time. Recently, I have came to believe absolute time (especially following Einstein) does not exist, so it was enlightening to be introduced to different models of it. Kyriaki Papageorgiou’s paper used the works of Francis Bacon- which interested me as I have a historical background Admittedly though I was a medievalist rather than an early modernist, but the use of the past to talk about future challenges excited me a lot.

In the afternoon, there was a raucous session on metamodernism led with a presentation by Alex Fergnani and then followed by a panel discussion. Metamodernism received quite a lot of criticism. While my knowledge of it is limited, I think it was at times under too much attack. Firstly, it is not modernism repackaged, it oscillates between modernisn and postmodernism (i.e. it does not ignore the criticisms of postmodernism). Secondly, grand narratives do not have to be simple- take the idea of increasing complexity often found in Big History. My point is we can have a grand narrative that is not reductionist, which avoids the excesses of modernism and is inclusive in its content. Finally, I am afraid of a ministry of global values as much as anyone, yet I feel that having shared global values is not bad in itself minus the ministry. Imagine how much easier protecting the environment would be if we had shared eco-values. Or consider human rights- no one (hopefully) would say they are a bad shared value!

The next session I attended was on the Vigie Report by Futuribles. There was a lecture on it, then this was followed by a workshop on how AI will affect the future. We envisaged various scenarios based on this, with a political-leaning perspective. On Thursday 26th, I attended a session which had a variety of topics, from Quantum Mechanics (especially nonlocality) to the history of Futures Studies. This session was particularly good as it talked about physics, something I have relatively recently became interested in, and due to the physical presence of a wampum during a talk on indigenous American foresight. The next session I attended covered everything from AI to neurodiversity, both pivotal for the future.

Next, was a talk on identity by Tracey Follows and how it is going to be crucial for the twenty-first century in terms of debate. This was followed by a celebration of the WFSF’s 50th Anniversary, which included a quiz. The conference closed following this, but there was another day of workshops. On the 27th, I attended a session on envisioning scenarios for the future. This was an enjoyable 3 hours, as a group we came up with some very wacky ideas for the future, though one could still detect at least a hint of plausibility. Following this was an update from UNESCO on Futures Literacy- it was fascinating to find more about the work UNESCO was doing through its wide range of projects. After, I played a Tabletop RPG in a session hosted by Emily Mudge and JT Mudge. It must have been fun because I actually bought Icarus, the RPG that the session was based on, after. The final session was by Juli Rush which was inspired by the medieval period and the Black Death. It featured a range of cards to do with death. As a former medievalist, I found this session very interesting.

The 28th (coincidentally the day of the Rugby World Cup final in Paris) was the day I flew back home. Overall, I enjoyed the conference, especially the variety of workshops. I also learned a lot, following it I took an increased interest in metamodernism and of course I continued my interest in physics. It was good to see a variety of approaches to the future. It renewed my general optimism for possible futures.