Imagined Future Scenarios
Social Justice, Possible Futures, Medium Term (3 - 5 years)
Scenario Generated from 'Is South Africa ‘confiscating land’, targeting some groups as Trump claims?' - Al Jazeera English
Future Arc and Implications
Grow Arc
Social Impact: Increased empathy fuels more performative activism than structural change, marketed as 'socially conscious' consumption.
Technological Impact: VR land dispossession experiences become increasingly realistic and accessible, primarily as entertainment and self-improvement tools.
Ecological Impact: Increased tech manufacturing and energy consumption needed to support widespread VR use exacerbates environmental degradation.
Economic Impact: A booming 'empathy economy' emerges, profiting from the simulation of historical injustices without addressing root causes.
Political Impact: Governments use sanitized versions of these VR experiences for propaganda, shaping narratives about land rights and national identity to suit their agenda.
Narrative: VR empathy becomes a consumer product, fueling economic growth while distracting from systemic inequalities in land ownership and resource access.
Collapse Arc
Social Impact: Widespread disillusionment erupts as the performative aspect of VR empathy is revealed, leading to social unrest and distrust.
Technological Impact: VR technology, reliant on a strained infrastructure, becomes unreliable and subject to manipulation, further fracturing society.
Ecological Impact: Environmental disasters exacerbate historical land injustices, rendering VR experiences a futile attempt to understand a worsening reality.
Economic Impact: The 'empathy economy' crashes as resources become scarce and the focus shifts to basic survival, revealing the fragility of the simulation.
Political Impact: Governments lose control as the unraveling social fabric and economic instability lead to widespread protests and challenges to authority.
Narrative: Systemic failures undermine faith in technology and institutions, leading to social breakdown and exposing VR empathy as a hollow gesture.
Discipline Arc
Social Impact: VR experiences are mandated for citizenship training, enforcing a government-approved narrative of land dispossession and reconciliation.
Technological Impact: VR technology is heavily censored and controlled, ensuring ideological conformity and preventing dissent related to land rights.
Ecological Impact: Environmental regulations are rigidly enforced, partially motivated by a desire to avoid reproducing historical ecological damage depicted in VR.
Economic Impact: The state controls resource distribution and economic activity related to land use, ostensibly to prevent future injustices.
Political Impact: An authoritarian regime uses VR simulations to indoctrinate citizens and maintain power, suppressing independent thought and action on land issues.
Narrative: A controlling government leverages VR empathy for social control, enforcing a narrow, top-down view of historical land injustices and their resolution.
Transform Arc
Social Impact: VR experiences catalyze genuine reconciliation efforts, leading to restorative justice practices and community-led land redistribution initiatives.
Technological Impact: Open-source VR technology empowers marginalized communities to create and share their own narratives of land dispossession, fostering authentic understanding.
Ecological Impact: VR empathy drives a radical shift towards sustainable land management practices and Indigenous-led conservation efforts.
Economic Impact: A solidarity economy emerges, prioritizing equitable access to land and resources over profit, driven by an ethically informed understanding of historical injustices.
Political Impact: Grassroots movements use VR as a tool for advocacy, demanding policy changes that address the root causes of land inequality and promote justice for all.
Narrative: VR empathy sparks a profound societal transformation, empowering marginalized communities to reclaim their histories and build a more just and sustainable future.