One of the core projects for Manoa futures students, and an unfortunately rare opportunity in current education, is to design an operational political system set roughly 30 years into the futures. To begin, students are to choose the location and size of the community. These places could exist now, like the island of Palau, or the system could be designed for a possible colony on the Moon or Mars (the focus of Dator's undergraduate political design course). Students must start from foundational principles they determine, such as the nature of human beings, a cosmological worldview, and the core values of their society. For example, the US Constitution and governance design is based on a Newtonian worldview and the belief that humans are inherently greedy, power-seeking beings, and so a system of divided and balanced branches of government was the design solution.
Students also examine and are required to address in their designs the six major complaints about governance as it is generally practiced today. These are that government is bureaucratic, patriarchal, undemocratic, violent/murderous, unfuturistic, and repressive.
A tall order and (speaking from experience) an exceedingly challenging project, but one that should be undertaken frequently and at all levels of education and across disciplines.
Below are a selection of final projects from this Spring's Political Design course. These students would love to get feedback on their work.
Who would've thought that?! I took this picture only a week before the first 'shock.' And people were complaining about $3.30 gas and traffic jams. Try $8 and rising. We've been scrambling on all fronts here in Hawaii to deal with the oil shortage, the food shortages, and energy shortages. It has so far been a surprisingly cooperative and controlled effort. Carpooling, bike riding, walking, telecommunting have all helped, but cracks are appearing and tensions rising. It reminds me of the 40 days of constant rain last year, the resulting sewage spill into Waikiki, and the gruesome flesh-eating virus death. If that unprecedented monsoon didn't break when it did, I was beginning to think we all would. Things are reaching a similar tipping point, although we see no end in sight. The sense of vulnerability and distance from the rest of the world is more palpable than ever. The placating mainstream news is of no comfort. Tourists have left and aren't coming in, and wealthier residents are starting to leave on the frighteningly few number of planes still coming and going. To think that we were talking about "Governing at the End of the World" only a few days before this hit. Being "right" never felt so wrong. We are trying to work with leaders and officials on next steps, always trying to think of the next event on the horizon. But day-to-day living has become a consuming effort and the rolling blackouts are lengthening in time and range.
We won't have much time to report, but we'll do our best to get the word out--hopefully with images. Stay tuned...
Video gaming platforms are becoming increasingly integrated with the bodies and minds of gamers -- witness for instance the movement-based Wii controller, and yesterday's news report, "New toys read brain waves" (Rachel Konrad, Associated Press, 30 April 2007).
HRCFS, with a little help from our friends, produced the following no-budget short film in response to that trend for last month's "Showdown in Chinatown" in Honolulu, wherein participants have 48 hours to conceive, shoot and edit a completed video, up to seven minutes in length. Parameters for films in this Showdown included the theme "addiction", the line "that's it", and two items; an apple and a pencil.
So without further ado, here's an investigative report from "Aloha Tonight", 14 April 2014...
Our first effort, on "neural rights management", can be seen here.
Thanks to all who helped make these experimental forays into quick-draw filmmaking possible -- we're looking forward to doing this on a regular basis. Watch this space, the sceptical futuryst, or this YouTube channel for future releases.
