FUTURES
infectious-futures
infectious-futures
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INFECTIOUS <strong>FUTURES</strong><br />
Stories of the post-antibiotic apocalypse<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
At Nesta we believe that engaging in science fiction and<br />
speculation is a powerful way to intervene in society’s<br />
desires and expectations of the future. We seek to better<br />
understand how imagined futures impact our present and<br />
our preparedness for what comes next.<br />
Visions of the future can illuminate potential paths forward. If those on offer<br />
are limited, they may lead us towards a limited set of identities, values<br />
and possible actions. If they cluster around particular concerns or desires<br />
they make those appear clearer and more compelling; even inevitable,<br />
and blind us to alternatives. Creating new visions can reveal a wider<br />
range of routes forward. When science warns us of slow, complicated, yet<br />
potentially enormous catastrophes, we need to engage with a variety of tools<br />
to effectively envisage and recognise threats and identify possibilities for<br />
change.<br />
Nesta grapples with questions of how real and imagined futures coconstruct<br />
one another in a number of ways, and seeks to support alternative<br />
perspectives. We explored the mutual influence of science fiction and<br />
innovation in our paper Better Made Up. We invite the public to debate,<br />
taste, feel and play out potential futures at our annual FutureFest event.<br />
We commission and support a number of narrative projects. For instance,<br />
we split the future of nanosatellites into six narratives in an attempt to<br />
demonstrate to policymakers that the ways they choose to talk about a new<br />
technology affects how it plays out in the world. With the British Council we<br />
supported a group of Nigerian creatives in their work creating and sharing<br />
films, images, music, art and narratives exploring alternative futures of<br />
Lagos.<br />
Our society’s relationship with microorganisms is going to have to change<br />
over coming decades. We will not succeed in overcoming antimicrobial<br />
resistance (AMR) by simply producing more and stronger drugs within<br />
the same environment that pressures microbes to evolve resistance. New<br />
technologies are allowing us to learn ever more about bacteria, and to<br />
negotiate a new relationship. The overall solution to AMR involves a long-<br />
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