up:: [[Futures Thinking]] tags:: #on/future #on/world_building # Future Scenarios With signals, drivers, consequences, and timelines mapped out, the next thing to do is to package these possible futures into scenarios or microfiction. *The goal of creating futures scenarios is to ultimately **provoke conversations** on a possible future.* Scenario allow exploration from various perspective, how are different groups affected and how would they react to these futures. It may be useful to explore some of the excises in [[Future Simulation]] before constructing scenarios. World building is a technique that writers use to develop their story. ### Pick a horizon The world should be set in a time horizon that is interesting to explore. - Entrepreneurs looking to build an actual product or service may gravitate towards near term horizons. - Sci-Fi writers may explore a much further horizon for world building. ### Pick a point-of-view (POV) For beginners, it is recommended to pick yourself as your POV because you know yourself well and have the experiences to apply in world building. Using a different perspective is possible with a lot of research, understanding the persona's pain points, values, etc. Pick a location. Keep in mind that the further you move away from your own experiences, the more you'd need to research to understand the particular context and environment. ### World details 1. Pick a specific place; e.g., a street corner, the kitchen, at the airport waiting area. 2. Describe what the place look like; walls, ceiling, floors, etc. 3. Describe what objects are in this space; cars, cup, furniture, etc. 4. How do people/animals/bots interact with those objects? Challenge all of your assumptions, then iterate again. Review the futures, horizons, and world context, and question the details from the previous iteration. > [!example] Would there be streets at all in a world of flying cars? If plants were intelligent, how would they move about? Write a Microfiction - literally the shortest story you can imagine. 1. Set up the scene, based on the POV chosen. 2. Introduce a challenge, take inspiration from negative consequences. 3. Despite their best efforts, the character challenges grow into problems. 4. Faced with a crisis, the characters abandon old solutions to try something new. 5. The new approach makes a little progress. 6. The approach is refined, and the characters regained stability. 7. Conclude on the story, either triumphant or loss. Magazines are a good medium for exploring alternative futures and storylines. Now take the [[Thinking/Spaces/Entrepreneurship/Future Artifacts]] that the characters used in their story, and create it today.