It could be otherwise

‘Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.’ In different versions, these famous words have been credited most often to Niels Bohr, but also to Yogi Berra, Mark Twain, Nostradamus and Danish politician K.C. Steincke, probably the earliest published source. Not only does that provide a kind reminder to students writing their papers that we always need to check our sources, it also shows that uncertainty about the future pervades our entire existence.

I find that comforting, especially as we live in times of fundamental geopolitical uncertainty. Will the USA post-Trump recover as a liberal democracy and supporter of international development cooperation? Will China continue to take the lead in technological innovation? Will Europe overcome its internal paralysis? Will we find ways to mitigate climate change? To improve access to healthcare and education globally? To reinvent the digital sphere and remedy its problematic sides? To entertain just and equitable trade and value chains? To end the rule of the bullies and rebuild the rule of law? I honestly don’t know, because prediction is very difficult…

I find it comforting, because it means that the future is open. We can approach it as gloom and doom, but also with hope and aspiration. We must embrace this hope because despair cannot be our alternative. In my view, the most powerful words are: it could be otherwise. The world as we see it is not necessarily the only possible world. We can envision a world of peace, equity, justice and care. It could be otherwise.

Is that going to happen? Again, I don’t know. However, as hard as it is to predict the future, it is possible to envision, even create, the future that we want to live in. Maybe not in a utopian sense, although such dreams provide the much needed compass for where we are heading. The future we can envision and create follows that compass, and it invites us to design the small steps in that direction.

It seems to me that many of the projects ISS and its alumni engage in are about such small steps. Born from a radical vision of a world that is otherwise, it is all about small, feasible, realistic steps that design a better world. Supporting the livelihood of people in precarious situations. Frugal innovations. Nurturing hope.

Our task is not to predict, but to create the future.