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Short abstract:

In this paper, I argue that speculative knowledge plays multiple roles in anticipatory processes. Based on an analysis of future projects by Latin American Futurists, I characterize speculative modalities within anticipations. The relevance in why speculations matter as knowledge systems.

Long abstract:

Speculation is a form of knowledge increasingly relevant in STS and deeply connected to anticipatory processes and their governance (Alvial-Palavicino, 2016; Guston, 2014). The role of speculation in the creation of alternatives, the construction of scenarios, and the addressing of emerging challenges are central for future-makers and diverse leading roles in our current global crises. In this paper, I argue that speculative knowledge plays multiple roles in anticipatory processes. The diversity of these roles is key to understanding the place of speculative knowledge in future-making and its value as a knowledge system. (Pérez Comisso and Jeffrey, 2023)

Based on textual and socio-technical analysis of future-centered projects by Latin American Futurists, I characterize speculative modalities within anticipations. Speculative knowledge can manifest as extrapolations of current evidence, as small ways to divert from the present to situate a knowledge exchange, among other ways. All these modalities offer ways of knowing that aren´t easily predictable nor can be simulated without the co-productive labor of creatives, facilitators, and other knowledge workers. These ways of knowing are temporally oriented to produce visions of the future (Berkhout, 2006), yet the insights of speculative modalities can allow us to appreciate and recognize key elements of speculative knowledge in everyday life that aren´t categorized, systemized, or programmed (yet), to revalue the labor involved this kind of knowledge-work, that resist boundary-work beyond time and space.