My new book: bit by bit 0

Preface

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

Hello everyone

In my last post about my last book, I said I would post my chapters here for you to read - and provide your reaction/comments if you so incline. Here is the Preface which is short and a brief introduction to the book. I’ll follow this up with Chapter 1, which is almost ready for reading.

Cheers
Maree

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Preface

I recently read a post that included a quote probably paraphrased from Carl Jung – thinking is hard, that’s why we judge – and I realised that this insight was what this book was about.

In futures work, our obsession with predictions, our willingness to dismiss some futures and vehemently reject others, to spend time on a strategic plan but not a futures process are indicators that we are judging not thinking. Underpinning our lack of thinking are our assumptions that shape what we believe to be right and proper or wrong. In turn, our assumptions are shaped by our worldviews which help us make sense of our realities.

If we are asked to think, we usually draw on our unconscious assumptions first, and if they are closed assumptions, our thinking about futures is constrained. For me, the way to crack open those constraints is to surface and use of foresight capacities – the ability to expand and deepen our thinking about futures.

It took me over 20 years to be able to write what is above because I too had assumptions that I needed to crack open, challenge and explore for validity, which I think I finally have achieved.

This book is based on my PhD on worldviews about the purpose of universities in 2020. Since then my assumptions have shifted because imagination also became a critical and explicit factor for me now because every image of our futures is based on an assumption.

The book starts with an exploration of worldviews and assumptions, then we move to finding our foresight and imaginations. I then introduce an assumptions mapping framework that can be used and adapted in futures work and how you might apply it in practice.

Happy reading!

Maree Conway
Melbourne, Australia