Futures Conversation 2023

The in-person Futures Conversation (FCx) on 1 September 2023 focused on the theme of “Ways of Seeing: Narratives Amidst Uncertainty”, which explored how societies construct meaning in today’s chaotic information landscape. FCx 2023 pursued three lines of inquiry, namely:

1. The blurring of realities due to new media and technologies and its implications;

2. How institutions should respond to uncertainty; and

3. Reconciling grand and small narratives in meaning-making

Participants included:

• Dave Snowden, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Cynefin Co

• Venkatesh Rao, independent researcher, consultant, author of “Tempo” (a book about decision-making), as well as founder of the Ribbonfarm blog

• Benjamin Bratton, Professor of Philosophy of Technology and Speculative Design at University of California, San Diego and Director of Antikythera, a think-tank on the speculative philosophy of computation at the Berggruen Institute

• Peter Schwartz, Senior Vice-President, Strategic Planning at Salesforce

• Mick Costigan, Vice-President, Salesforce Futures

• Cho-Oon Khong, Associate Fellow at Said Business School and former Chief Political Analyst at Shell

• Hafiz Rashid, Museum docent, and expert on narratives in the Malay World

• Cissie Fu, Head, McNally School of Fine Arts and Co-Founder of the Political Arts Initiative, focusing on ways in which people interact and compose political ideas and actions through technology and the arts. Also works on organizational design

• Cheong Koon Hean, Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Professor of Practice at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and concurrently Chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities

• Simon Chesterman, Dean of NUS College and Faculty of Law, Expert on AI regulation and governance

• Aaron Maniam, Fellow of Practice and Director of Digital Transformation Education at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government

• Lin Suling, Straits Times Opinion Editor