Towards a formal framework for describing collective intelligence knowledge creation processes that ‘use-the-future’

One of the key claims for Futures Literacy (FL) as a capability is that it potentially enhances our capacity to act in ways that are consistent with our values and aspirations. Beyond the important virtues conferred on anticipation that arise when preparation and planning are successful, there are two other specific advantages - proposed as hypotheses - that are of particular interest in this book. The first is that a greater capacity to ‘use-the-future’ makes it easier to sense and make-sense of the world around us. This hypothesis rests on the proposition that a better understanding of anticipatory assumptions, including those related to distinct anticipatory systems, empowers people to grasp why and how the imaginary future influences what they see and do in the present. If this hypothesis holds it means that a futures literate person is better able to detect and attribute meaning to novelty and complex emergence than someone who is futures illiterate. The value being expressed here is that it is better to understand the world than to remain ignorant. The second hypothesis is that FL, because it enhances the capacity to appreciate complexity, makes it easier to take advantage of change, to deploy everyday forms of contextual creativity, and to embrace a diversification strategy towards resilience. The value expressed here is, in summary form, the desire for ‘freedom’ understood as a capability (Sen, 2009; Nussbaum, 2011).