Now, post-COVID, as I check back with Adrien and Dev, I’m not so sure. Ideas and words that the catalogue referenced such as ‘consciousness’, ‘interbeing’, ‘collectivism’, ‘circularity’, ‘degrowth’, and of course, diversity and inclusivity etc, are now standard parts of the universal discourse, while their determination to couple tech with nature, nature with spirit, and innovation with more psycho-therapeutic connections – consider the growing role of LSD as an accelerant for creativity – are likewise part of wider consilience movement across the arts and sciences where we no longer talk about right and left brain challenges, but refer instead to whole-system solutions. As Dev sees it,’ ‘it’s all about a rising awareness of interconnectedness. Of developing competencies around vision, adaption, and inspiration.’
This then is how our Back to The Fucture tri-alogue begins: all about BILL and the journey he creates around circularity and the right to repair, but onwards and via many zegways into how and why we need to redefine what we understand manufacturing to be; what ‘value’ means; how capitalism is failing, what are the alternatives and why we should embrace the metrics and possibilities of kindness, curiosity, and the transformative power of technology – and all in the same sentence! These guys are nothing less than geniuses of the mind, body, soul and psychic points beyond!
Powerful stuff, magical stuff, the stuff, as Adrien and Dev both remind me, that isn’t just the stuff of dreams, but of how we transform matter, and those things that matter to us. ‘The future isn’t about corporations, industry and communities working in opposition, its about seeing them as part of the same system, and about them taking part in the same journey, so that the learning is shared, and the solutions beneficial to all.’
