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Paper short abstract:

Karl Popper argued that lessons from the past does not lead society forward, but visions of the future pull us into the future. Inspired by this, but not leaving history out, this paper will discuss how academic knowledge can be used in interaction with wider society, tackling future issues.

Paper long abstract:

How to address possible futures was the aim of LU Futura, an academic think tank at Lund University 2018-2021. LU Futura operated in the interface between the university and wider society, aiming to contribute to ongoing societal debates on future challenges, providing academic facts, analyses, and knowledge.

Important areas in the LU Futura work were questions of climate, working life, demography, health, learning and language. Since members in the Futura team were affiliated to all eight university faculties – Art, Economy, Humanities & Theology, Law, Medicine, Science, Social Science, Technology – we were also occupied by questions of interdisciplinarity, and what kind of knowledge this can generate.

Philosopher Karl Popper argued that it is not lessons from the past that leads society forwards, it is the visions of possible futures that pulls us into the future. Inspired by Poppers perspective but not leaving history out, LU Futura wanted to combine history with current visions of future, underlining that decisions of today reaches far into the future.

In this paper I will discuss some lessons learned in the LU Futura project:

- Conflicts of interest, visible not least in the field of sustainability and climate issues.

- Alternative ways of scientific communication, focusing on conversations, dialogues, exhibitions, guided fictional tours, film, podcasts.

- Alternative methods in exploring the future, focusing on preparing, not predicting possible futures.

Finally, some remarks on why both the rear view mirror and the crystal ball can be useful metaphorical tools for an ethnography of the future.