The “Looking To The Future” Podcast series addresses the future from a unique perspective. Its primary interest is the human dimension not just the technological—how we think and the values we hold. In addition, it draws on a particular way of understanding what our times are about and what the future ask of us—the Creative Systems Theory concept of Cultural Maturity.
The concept of Cultural Maturity offers a way to make sense of and address many of today’s most important questions. It describes how our times are challenging us to engage a new chapter in our human story, an essential “growing up” as a species. If the concept of Cultural Maturity is correct, it describes changes that are as or more significant than those that brought us democratic governance 250 years ago. If it is not correct, it is hard to imagine a healthy—or perhaps even survivable—human future.
With some of these podcasts, I will address specific future challenges where the human dimension is key. With others I will look more big picture. While the concept of Cultural Maturity is radical—and for many people at first a stretch—with familiarity, most people find it straightforward. It describes a needed—and now possible—“new common sense.”
My hope is that people who spend time with them will come away with a solid sense of the new ways of understanding and acting on which our future depends. Over time, podcasts will be of three types. I will start with a series that uses critical changes confronting culture to introduce the concept of Cultural Maturity. Gradually, I will also include podcasts of a more front-page-news-sort, pieces that address current hot-button issues from a culturally mature perspective. Later I will also include podcasts that draw more specifically on Creative Systems Theory—the conceptual roots of the concept of Cultural Maturity—both to provide greater conceptual nuance and to highlight specific tools that can be used to support culturally mature understanding and decision-making.