In this interview with Douglas Rushkoff, Olga Mink speaks about Reon Brand’s research Co-emerging Futures. According to Rushkoff, some of these narratives will increase humanity’s extracting and depleting interventions on earth, consequently leading to a world that will become less resilient. If we would start (re)valuing our (forgotten) pasts and consider alternative bodies of knowledge in our thinking, a multitude of (alternative) possibilities for the future may arise on the horizon, Rushkoff argues.

Co-emerging Economies is a research trajectory initiated by Philips and Baltan Laboratories. For this research trajectory, Reon Brand and Olga Mink are interrogating different points of view on future change. In the research, they reflect on three economic future directions; the Techno-centric Economy in which technological progress can save humanity even if nature is compromised. The Resource-centric Economy which revolves around the notion of the circular economy/sustainable consumption to safeguard the planet while ensuring human prosperity, and the Eco-entangled Economy, putting the needs of the planet above our own, by adopting a way of living that reverses the human footprint, & regenerates healthy planet ecosystems. For this research trajectory experts are interviewed about perspectives inspired on the Co-emerging Futures model by Reon Brand.

Image credit Johannes Kroemer