The Risk Society theory postulates that an era of greater foresight beginning in the latter half of the last century inhibits action to create better futures due to the perceived complexity and fear of their potential negative impacts. We propose that new generations, technologies, and global imperatives are moving human society beyond the Risk Society, and into an era of Agency. In this new era, foresight can inform effective, responsible action in four “biomes” of society, and four boundary ecosystems where these biomes intersect.
Technological Leverage: The ability to invent technologies that multiply the power of one human to effect change.
Social Equity: The ability to organize social, political, and economic systems that give people individual freedom to make choices about how they can live their lives.
The Anthropocene: The ability of people to affect the health of the planet, maintaining the climate and ecosystems within an optimal zone for human health and benefit of all life.
The Hyperreal: The convergence of artificial intelligence, simulation, and biotechnology, generating new societal constructs that exist in spaces loosely connected or disconnected to the physical world, and opening humans to dream new experiences into existence that do not depend on truth or “real” materials or biologies.
We also explore foresight related to Liminal Boundary Ecosystems: New emerging phenomena in human societies at the intersection of Agency Biomes. These include Decentralized Economies, Regenerative Capitalism, Autonomous Curation, and Reified Simulacra.