The narrative of William Gibson: A unique view on catastrophes and our future
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Alexander Hofmann
Contingency Institute Germany
alexmhofmann@googlemail.com
Author(s):
In Star Trek VI the future and its unpredictability were described in the words of Shakespeare as the “undiscovered country”. This poetic framing sums up most things there are to say about the future.
In order to tackle the challenges lying ahead of us, we continuously try to predict what may happen. We use sophisticated computer models or draw parallels to the past. No matter how complex the method is though, in most cases, we fail to imagine the outline of this undiscovered county.
In hindsight some people though, were eerily on point with their visions of the things to come. William Gibson is one of these people. In his Science Fiction writing career, which took off in the mid-1980s, he has not only coined the term “cyberspace” and delivered the inspiration for The Matrix in the very next sentence, but has also delivered us visions of the future that already feel accurate in the presence.
While most future challenges are currently described as cataclysmic events or catastrophes that hit our civilization, like black swans or wild cards, Gibson’s “model” is more intuitive. In the future of the ongoing Jackpot-trilogy mankind has been decimated by the cumulative sum threats like climate change, pollution, antibiotic resistances and pandemics, over multiple decades.
Here I will introduce you to the principles of how Gibson’s extrapolation from our present world and how this method may be emulated to navigate potential catastrophes and give us a clearer view on that undiscovered country.
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