Why Utopia Matters
THE ACADEMY 2023: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FUTURE?
The Academy 2023 What Happened to the Future? will be an antidote for all those who feel that our common life has reached something of an impasse. From a political class who seem unable to offer answers to inflation to the dearth of exciting new artworks – we urgently need to understand why contemporary society seems to lack big ideas about the future. By returning to some fundamental themes in history and culture, and with good company and the guidance of good books, we hope to provide some inspiration for all those thinking how to kick-start political life.
I will be speaking at the event on the topic Why utopia matters
“Today, when a grim realism seems to be setting in, and the future’s wings clipped by everything – from green austerity to economic malaise and the return of ‘might-is-right’ realism to political disenchantment – do we need a return to Utopia?”
Read more about the programme below, and get your ticket!
THE ACADEMY 2023: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FUTURE?
SAT 29 & SUN 30 JULY 2023
WYBOSTON LAKES RESORT, BEDFORDSHIRE
EVENT PROGRAMME
Keynotes
Why Utopia Matters
Professor Frank Furedi
Without Utopia, are we left unable to imagine a truly different future? Without genuinely transformative ideals, what is there to fight for – merely a marginally better version of today … read more
Cultural Exhaustion? Remakes and originality
Dr Maren Thom
Ours is the era of endless remakes, repeats, reboots, franchises, cinematic universes and multiverses. What happened to creativity? Today many allege that the entire notion of representation– the master concept of film and art more generally – is under attack … read more
Is Progress a Thing of the Past?
Sherelle Jacobs
What happened to progress? For a long time, progress was assumed as a given. But these assumptions have increasingly been called into question in an era of both ever-expanding victimhood politics and economic stagnation. Perhaps the issue is that Western societies have lost their sense of mission… read more
Contemporary Dystopia: The return of apocalyptic thinking
Dr Tim Black, columnist, Spiked
End-thinking seems to abound today. Politicians and activists alike warn daily of the ever-impending climate catastrophe. Others talk excitedly of the next pandemic or of the world-ending threat posed by AI. What’s driving the prevalence of apocalypticism today … read more
The New Elite: Future Proof?
Professor Matthew Goodwin, University of Kent; author, Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics
Lots of recent commentary from both progressives and conservatives has focused on the question of who the ‘elite’ are, and how, if at all, the make-up of the ruling elite has changed. But few would deny that our current crop of elites seem singularly unprepared for the challenges and crises of the 21st Century. Why is this? read more
Reclaiming the Future from the War on the Past
Dr Tiffany Jenkins
Today, we seem hostile to the past, more likely to hide it, as in the shutting of galleries in the Wellcome Collection, or try and remove it, as we see in the pulling down of statues. The demand for reparations for historical wrongs also seems to reflect a widespread fatalistic sense that the present is so determined by past events that all we can do is mourn … read more
History
The First Transhumanist? Haldane’s Daedalus 100 Years On
Sandy Starr
2023 marks the centenary of Daedalus, a landmark lecture – subsequently a book – by the geneticist, polymath and public intellectual JBS Haldane. The lecture surveyed humanity’s relationship to technology in the wake of WW1 … read more
Forecasting failure: A short history of the future
Professor James Woudhuysen
From the exuberance of Jules Verne to the forebodings of HG Wells, visions of the future are well known to say more about their own times than they do about the future itself. At the height of the Cold War, for instance, some still had faith in the future … read more
Literature
Bronze Age Mindset: Body-building the future?
Nikos Sotirakopoulos
In 2018, a strange book appeared, propelling its author, an anonymous twitter account by the name of Bronze Age Pervert, to the centre of public conversation. The book was said to be a manual for Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, and has come to define the reactionary Right. Is the book, or its author, just another voice wanting to preach to a disaffected youth … read more
Dune: Science fiction and the end of the future
JJ Charlesworth, art critic; editor, ArtReview
Frank Herbert’s 1964 sci-fi masterpiece Dune remains a pivotal work in the history of science fiction. Whereas the works of the earlier twentieth century trumpeted the infinite possibilities of humanity’s future, driven by technology, science fiction since Dune has been more preoccupied with the imminent eclipse of humanity. When much of today’s science-fiction can barely bring itself to imagine human beings even a few years into the future, how might science fiction recentre the human today? read more
TICKETS:
Tickets start at £240 for a weekend including accommodation, meals, and lectures – not to mention the chance to carry on discussions with fellow attendees at drinks and dinner.
• One night, single occupancy £240 Buy tickets
• One night, double occupancy £400 Buy tickets
• Two nights, single occupancy £340 Buy tickets
• Two nights, double occupancy £540 Buy tickets
• Day tickets £65 Buy tickets
• Concession rates are available for full time students, senior citizens and unwaged
READING LISTS AND MORE INFORMATION:
Please visit the Academy page for more information and reading lists: https://ideasmatter.org.uk/the-academy-2023-what-happened-to-the-future
For further information contact Jacob Reynolds jacob@ideasmatter.org.uk or Geoff Kidder geoff@ideasmatter.org.uk