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Taking Control

• The solarpunk way
• The past is a guide to the future
• Have courage to face the changes
• Technology as if people mattered

Solar

The sun has and will always be the central part of our lives

Punk

We need to break out of our negative view of the future and take back control.

The status quo won't do!

Solar Punk

Positive engagement in the future through imagery, literature, lifestyle and technology

Pic: Julie Dillon

Pic: Fabián Cobos ( @fabcob )

Pic: Adam Flynn

The past

The sun used to be a symbol of control, new beginnings and hope.

Let's make it so again.

Pic: God Pictures

Religious control

We need to show how religion helped/helps to foster stability provides simplicity and prevents fear of losing control.

Then show how responses to climate change can also help us manage change, complexity and increase control.

Please wait...

We are naturally beings who crave control.

Of course, people do this in different ways - it is one of our defining personality features.

Pic: Julian de Narvaez

Fear of losing control

This recent Scientific American article includes a fascinating quote:

"... the primal experience of human existence is a loss of control, rather than a default of stability."

What we desire of the future is certainty.

What we fear is that we don't have any...

Pic: AMC

Uncertainty

Our natural inclination is to create stories to make uncertainty, or our lack of control, go away.

Alternatively, we also tend to over-simplify complexity or discount randomness with assumptions.

Problem

Such a combination is a heady mix for climate change, as our fall-back stories and assumptions are often both wrong but strongly held!

Technology

So much in the future is uncertain

• Climate change
• Artificial Intelligence
• Energy
• Biotech
• Neural interfaces

We need a positive vision to help us take control of these opportunities

Pic: Wind Tree

Technical control

Life is getting more complex, with increasing amounts of infrastructure underpinning our daily lives.

• Is hiding (from) complexity a good thing?
• When do we need to know what's going on and so act on risks, issues ourselves?

Things that will stay the same

• Human nature
• Conversation
• Meals
• Friendship

Pic: National Gallery