In 1992, while presenting at the World Futures Studies Federation course on International Development, I shifted my lecture from the typical rehearsed presentation on factors explaining maldevelopment to a real time unpacking/deconstruction of transportation futures. As I, we, worked through the analysis, alternatives organically emerged. The four levels were: first, the problem or the litany – congestion and pollution. Second the causes: too many cars and desire for more cars, rising incomes, traditional infrastructure that was not car flow friendly, among other factors. Third, the Big City outlook, westernization, and the "Los Angelization" of the planet. And fourth, West is best with cars as freedom, as individuality. We understood that the government would take a technical approach of creating flyovers and not the deeper required to rethink centre-periphery relations – to decentralize - to reimagine Bangkok as a walkable and green city. This led to a discussion on not just infrastructure redesign but stories around rural areas and the symbol of the car as a symbol of Western power. CLA shifted the discussion from conventional strategies on transport toward alternative futures of mobility, identity, and sustainability. After a few more attempts at presenting on communication, on disability, on ways knowing the method was born. Theoretically, of course, I was standing on the works of the greats: P.R. Sarkar, Johan Galtung, William Irwin Thompson, Joseph Campbell and from insights from professors and colleagues such as James Dator, Michael Shapiro, and Richard Slaughter.
In the CLA Reader published in 2004, we compiled articles on the method to gain academic respectability. Doctoral students would email me and say, they wanted to write their thesis on CLA but their professors were suspicious. By 2015, when CLA 2.0 was released, we had documented hundreds of additional case studies. Professor were no longer suspicious, indeed, many enthusiastic. The method by that time had been used by thirty plus national governments, dozens of international organizations, hundreds of businesses and community organizations, and thousands of individuals.
With CLA 3.0, we have moved from planting seeds about a new method, to nurturing young trees, to watching a true forest of transformative and critical futures research. The forest true to the iceberg image that has been linked to CLA is not just on land but in the ocean as well.
My own work in the area has somewhat changed. Along with projects using CLA on the external world, for example, in the past few months, with FAO, Australia Prudential Residential Authority, Mitsubishi Motors, WHO, the Pacific Community, the Razak School of Government, LEGO, UNESCAP, more and more I insist that participants in workshops also focus on the CLA of the self. This has become especially important with the rise in anxiety from COVID and the invasion of Ukraine. The inner work leads not only to the reflective practitioner but ensures epistemological mindfulness. We enter the room aware that we are part of the problem or solution, that our stories can help or hurt. CLA of the self, for me, is a way to help others find ways out of current predicaments. For example, just recently with colleagues in Shanghai stuck from the long lockdown, we worked together to shift the core metaphor from "the prison" to "painting the prison" and from a "lone firefly to a ray of light" connecting with other rays. An educational leader working with the disadvantaged used CLA recently to develop the new story he wished to tell his community of students, teachers, and parents. While he understood the reality of admiring the problem, after the CLA workshop, he changed his focus from the victim to the champion. When I suggested that the narrative of the champion might be a step to far, he added an intermediate narrative shift: getting in the game. These storis assist in expanding agency, in helping us create more desirable futures. The stories as with external CLA need to link to systemic changes as well, and when possible, new measures of success. The question I ask organizations as they develop their new narrative is who are you in the story? Thus, it is not about changing others per se but how about finding a voice, a role for oneself in a changing world. With one large group, their new story was a flotilla of canoes. I then asked participants, who were they in the flotilla? One said, the navigator, another the one who painted the canoes, a third, the one who found dollars for canoe maintenance. The story thus connected all. CLA, for me, is not about strategic foresight but transformational futures. We are in the universe not as objective change agents but as characters (often pre-scripted and used) with the possibility of inner and outer transformation, of co-creating alternative futures. Depth assists us in moving from technical litany systemic fixes to longer term worldview and narrative shifts.
This book can be read from the position of theories of knowledge, as methodology, as case studies, or as part of one's individual journey. I can only recommend that you work from multiple positions, and, of course, work at all four levels. While CLA 2.0 was a partnership between me and Director of Metafuture, Dr. Ivana Milojević, we are fortunate to now have Drs. John Sweeney and Ralph Mercer as fellow collaborators on this inner and outer, land and ocean voyage.
《无垠的探索:跨越世纪的科学与人文之旅》 一、 序言:时代的交汇点 本书是一部横跨多个学科领域的宏大叙事,旨在梳理自二十世纪初以来,人类在自然科学、社会科学、哲学思辨以及艺术创作领域所取得的里程碑式成就。我们身处一个知识爆炸的时代,信息的碎片化倾向常常使人难以把握宏观图景。因此,《无垠的探索》试图搭建一座桥梁,连接那些看似孤立的研究分支,揭示它们之间深刻的内在联系和相互启发的机制。 本书的叙事逻辑并非严格按照时间顺序展开,而是以核心思想和研究范式的变迁为轴线,引导读者进行一场跨越学科边界的深度漫游。我们相信,真正的突破往往发生在学科的边缘地带,在那些不同知识体系相互碰撞、融合之处。 二、 科学的革命与范式转移 第一部分:微观世界的重塑——物理学与化学的深刻变革 我们将从二十世纪初的物理学革命开始。爱因斯坦的相对论彻底颠覆了牛顿时代对时空的基本认知,而量子力学的诞生则将我们带入了一个充满不确定性和概率性的微观世界。本书将详细探讨普朗克、玻尔、海森堡等巨匠的贡献,分析量子场论的建立如何为粒子物理学奠定了基础,并讨论标准模型的建立及其面对暗物质和暗能量挑战时的局限性。 在化学领域,分子结构和化学键理论的深入理解,推动了有机合成化学的飞速发展。我们将回顾从有机化学到材料科学的演变,重点分析新型催化剂的设计原理,以及其在可持续能源和环保技术中的应用潜力。特别关注在合成生物学领域,化学原理如何与生命科学深度融合,催生出全新的工程化生命系统的可能性。 第二部分:生命的奥秘与基因的语言——生物学的宏大叙事 生物学是本书着墨最多的部分之一。从孟德尔的遗传定律到沃森和克里克对DNA双螺旋结构的发现,人类对生命本质的理解进入了一个全新的阶段。本书深入剖析了分子生物学的核心概念,如基因表达调控、蛋白质折叠的复杂性。 随后,我们将聚焦于基因组学时代的来临。人类基因组计划的完成标志着一个时代的结束,同时也开启了功能基因组学、蛋白质组学以及代谢组学的广阔前景。我们探讨了基因编辑技术(如CRISPR-Cas9)带来的巨大潜力与随之而来的伦理困境。此外,我们还将考察进化生物学如何通过整合古生物学、遗传学和生态学数据,构建出更为精细的生命演化树。 三、 人类社会的复杂性与行为的解码 第三部分:心智的疆域——心理学与神经科学的前沿 人类心智是宇宙中最迷人的谜团之一。本书将回顾弗洛伊德的精神分析理论的遗产,并将其置于现代认知科学的语境下进行重新审视。认知心理学如何通过实验方法揭示记忆、注意力和决策制定的机制?我们将详细阐述连接大脑结构与功能的核心技术,例如功能性磁共振成像(fMRI)和脑电图(EEG)的最新应用,以及它们如何帮助我们理解意识的起源。 行为经济学和决策理论的发展,挑战了传统经济学中“理性人”的假设。通过对启发式偏差、损失厌恶等非理性行为模式的分析,本书试图提供一个更贴近现实的人类行为模型。 第四部分:社会结构的动态演化——社会学与人类学的洞察 社会学和人类学为我们提供了理解人类群体的工具。本书考察了从韦伯的理性化理论到福柯的权力/知识分析的理论演进。我们特别关注全球化进程对传统社会结构、身份认同和文化多样性的冲击与重塑。 在全球数字化浪潮下,社交网络分析和大数据方法正在改变社会学研究的范式。我们探讨了大规模数据如何被用于识别社会网络中的关键节点、信息传播的路径,以及社会动员的潜在模式。人类学则通过深入的民族志研究,强调了文化相对论的重要性,批判了普世主义的陷阱,并探讨了地方知识在全球治理中的价值。 四、 哲学的反思与艺术的表达 第五部分:意义的追寻——当代哲学思辨 技术进步和社会变迁总是伴随着深刻的哲学反思。《无垠的探索》不会回避形而上学的基本问题,但会更侧重于分析哲学和实践哲学的应用。我们将探讨语言哲学对逻辑学和计算机科学的深远影响,以及现象学如何为理解主体经验提供了独特的视角。 人工智能的崛起,尤其引发了关于“何为人性”、“何为心智”的深刻争论。本书分析了功能主义、同一性理论在面对强人工智能时的挑战。同时,环境伦理学和技术哲学也占据了重要篇幅,探讨人类在改造自然和技术发展中的责任边界。 第六部分:形式的自由与表达的边界——艺术与媒介的转型 艺术是对人类体验的最高级提炼。本书将艺术史置于社会文化变迁的大背景下考察。从现代主义对传统形式的颠覆,到后现代主义对宏大叙事的解构,艺术始终是时代精神的晴雨表。 数字媒体的普及极大地改变了艺术的生产、传播和消费模式。本书分析了虚拟现实(VR)、增强现实(AR)技术在艺术创作中的应用,探讨了“可互动性”如何重塑观众与作品的关系。我们还将审视数字时代的审美经验,以及算法推荐系统对文化品味的潜移默化的影响。 五、 结论:面向未知的融合与整合 《无垠的探索》总结认为,二十一世纪的研究趋势日益呈现出跨学科和系统化的特征。无论是应对气候变化、流行病控制,还是理解人类的复杂行为,任何单一学科都无法提供全面的解决方案。未来的知识进步将高度依赖于不同领域专家的有效对话与知识的深度融合。本书最终希望激发读者,以更广阔的视野去审视我们所处的这个复杂而迷人的世界,并以探索者的精神迎接前方的无限可能。