The coronavirus crisis has changed society as we knew it. Many agree now that the virus has exposed the flaws of neoliberalism, austerity policies, and a world economy geared to efficiency rather than sustainability and resilience. Attentive observers have noted that travel restrictions and lockdowns cleared skies and reduced ecological footprints. There is an emerging consensus that this global human tragedy is a wake-up call, dress rehearsal, or golden moment for the transition to a fairer and more sustainable world society that is more resilient not only to pandemics, but also to climate change and the many other grand challenges faced by humanity in the 21st century. In this climate of crises, an increasingly permanent sense of urgency and ‘alternativelessness’ prevails: Surveillance capitalism or global terrorism; lockdown or excess mortality; degrowth or climate extinction; the list goes on. In all these contexts, rapid decisions must be made while the underlying trade-offs do not leave us much of a choice. The result is the proliferation of subconscious or algorithmized knee-jerk reactions, path dependencies, and moralizations where strategic thinking and decision communication would be required. The purpose of the “Next Society Interface 2021” is to reclaim the future as a horizon of alternatives in domains as different as research, business, education, or public administration. Theories, tools, and trainings are featured that facilitate the strategic management of dysfunctional trade-off and, thus, preserve our scope for decision-making in a world where future is and will remain a plural word.
Organizers: Kazimieras Simonavičius University and the Next Society Institute.
Date and time: October 15th, 2021, 10:00 – 14:45 (EET)
Location: SMK University of Applied Social Sciences, Kalvarijų g. 137E, Vilnius 08211, Lithuania
Programme:
- 10:00-10:20 Welcome speeches Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Kiškienė, KSU Rector, and Gabija Skučaitė, SMK Chancellor
- 10:20-10:50 Next Society Institute: The future as horizon, Prof. Dr. habil. Steffen Roth
- 10:50-11:00 The nature of grand challenges, Prof. Dr. habil. Vladislav Valentinov
- 11:00-11:20 The Next Society Tool Factory Prof. Dr. Augusto Sales
- 11:20-11:40 Training and higher education for next societies Dr. Krešimir Žažar and Dr. des. Lars Clausen
- 11:40-12:00 Next Society Institute: Interfaces to the next Prof. Dr. habil. Steffen Roth
- 12:00-13:30 Lunch break
- 13:30-14:30 Panel Discussion
- 14:30-14:45 Sum-up of the Workshop
Impressions
