Introducing SuperStruct: the global forecasting game!

September 8th, 2008 by admin

This Discover Magazine article introduces SuperStruct, the the alternative-reality forecasting game sponsored by The Institute for The Future (a Bay Area-based think tank that uses scenario planning for forecasting).

SuperStruct is basically a scenario planning exercise, which will be conducted by thousands of participants over a 6-week period. The “game” seeks to explore what type of soutions we can develop to several major “SuperThreats”, or global crises “predicted” to occur in 2019. The name SuperStruct refers to the human ability to build social structures, one top of another.

Super-threats are massively disrupting global society as we know it. There’s an entire generation of homeless people worldwide, as the number of climate refugees tops 250 million. Entrepreneurial chaos and “the axis of biofuel” wreak havoc in the alternative fuel industry. Carbon quotas plummet as food shortages mount. The existing structures of human civilization—from families and language to corporate society and technological infrastructures—just aren’t enough. We need a new set of superstructures to rise above, to take humans to the next stage.

Players will envision themselves in this future world, and write blog posts, make videos, build websites and create all types of content which will be filtered and guided through the five scenarios by a “game master”.

I have been honored by being selected as one of the game masters for SuperStruct. I will be leading the “Generation Exile” scenario, which will explore what will happen to the millions of people who will be displaced by climate change and other threats of the near future.

I think that this will be a great opportunity for everyone to contribute to the conversation and have some fun at the same time. In a few weeks, I’ll be posting more details about how everyone can participate.

Forecasting the Future May Be a Matter of Fun and Games | Computers | DISCOVER Magazine