Tag Archives: philosophy

Towards the Philosophy of a Future Conscience

Yesterday I put up a thought piece on the spirituality of technology, and for today I thought it would be worth pulling out a collection of posts from the blog that really speak to the core ethos of developing a future conscience.  For people new to the blog, this is a good introduction to the philosophy that lies behind it – and I hope that by putting it all in one place I might encourage some of you to delve deeper into why this blog exists and the vitally important task ahead of us that I am trying to highlight.

The below articles are in reverse chronological order:

The Spirituality of Technology: Foundations for a New Humanity

TIDAL and the Tipping Point of Glamour

Black Friday and the Constructed Consumer

[Review] Her – Love, Sentience and the Transition of our Times

Stop Watching Us! PRISM, Surveillance and the Hierarchy of Privacy

Taking a Digital Holiday: Are We Digital Natives or Addicts?

Can Digital Democracy Work?

Digital Diplomacy and the Ethics of Future Politics

The Power of We? A Story of You, and Me, and I, and Us

The Social Psychology of Occupy

Beyond Cute Robots: Towards a New Concept of Sentience

We are the 99%! You are the Revolution!

The 21st Century: A Tale of Paradigm Shifts and Adaptability

UK Riots: Are We Limiting our Understanding of Violence?

Hack the Planet! LulzSec, Anonymous and the Call for Accountability

Musings Along the Way: 40 Spiritual Aphorisms

Millionize Your Lashes: Cosmetic Dreams of Absurdity

Secular Spirituality: Sacred Acts, Profane Thoughts

[Review] Radio Free Albemuth: Into the Mind of Philip K Dick

Society 3.0 – Where all of us have a voice

So there you have it, the philosophy of a future conscience as developed here on this blog over the last six years.  These links represent just under 10% of the posts here, so don’t be shy and dig deep into what the Future Conscience blog has to offer!

25 Futurist Quotes to Inspire You

We all love a good quote. Those perfectly textured string of words that open our eyes to new possibilities, and enlighten some of the darkness that lies just beyond our current state of mind.

In the spirit of discovery, here are 25 futurist quotes to inspire you:

The human brain had a vast memory storage.  It made us curious and very creative.  Those were the characteristics that gave us an advantage – curiosity, creativity and memory.  And that brain did something very special. It invented an idea called ‘the future.’David Suzuki

For time and the world do not stand still.  Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.John F Kennedy

You cannot create new science unless you realise where the old science leaves off and new science begins, and science fiction forces us to confront this.Michio Kaku

I don’t try to describe the future.  I try to prevent it.Ray Bradbury

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.Victor Hugo

Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it.Edward Snowden

Thinking Is Free (image by Dr. Strangelove, CC, Flickr)You can never properly predict the future as it really turns out.  So you are doing something a little different when you write science fiction.  You are trying to take a different perspective on now.Kim Stanley Robinson

The best way to predict the future is to create it.Peter Drucker

I’m an inventor.  I became interested in long-term trends because an invention has to make sense in the world in which it is finished, not the world in which it is started.Ray Kurzweil

Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all.  It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.Ban Ki-moon

They say the innocent have nothing to hide – but they do have something to protect.Shami Chakrabarti

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result.  He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up.  His work is like that of the planter – for the future.  His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.Nikola Tesla

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.Albert Einstein

Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle.  This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future. – Albert Camus

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.R. Buckminster Fuller

I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS…people just submitted it.  I don’t know why.  They “trust me”.  Dumb fucks.Mark Zuckerberg

The Web as I envisaged it, we still have not seen it yet.  The future is still so much bigger than the past.Tim Berners-Lee

The danger of the past was that men became slaves.  The danger of the future is that man may become robots.Erich Fromm

Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.Isaac Asimov

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.John Maynard Keynes

There are things known, and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.Aldous Huxley

People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.George Orwell

Philip K DickThe concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future.Frank Herbert

I ask, in my writing, ‘What is real?’ Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power.Philip K Dick

Will Virtual Reality Make Us More Anti-Social?

Virtual Reality will prove, in many examples over time, to be anti-social. Which is why we should not shy away from the question, and cannot allow ourselves to hide from the plausible repercussions of this new technology.Continue Reading

The Best of Future Conscience 2009 – 2012

The Best of Future Conscience 2009 – 2012

To recognise three years of writing the blog I’m highlighting some of my favourite posts, the ones that I would hope everybody who visits would read (and share!) and that highlight the tone and purpose of the blog the best.Continue Reading

UK Riots: Are We Limiting Our Understanding of Violence?

Violence is both visible and invisible, but the response to the UK riots at the moment is one that only ever refers to visible manifestations with the term ‘violence’. To do this helps to legitimise the forms of violence that are invisible.Continue Reading

Musings Along the Way: 40 Spiritual Aphorisms

Spiritual aphorisms are intended to speak directly to the intuitive side of us, and as such they will be placed here without comment. They are as true as they are true, and as false as they are false. I hope that you find value of some kind in one or more of these, my musings along the way.Continue Reading