Protopia, utopia and dystopia
Are you familiar with Kevin Kelly's concept of Protopia, a vision of progress that stands in contrast to both utopian optimism and dystopian pessimism? In his view, the two latter extremes fall short in establishing a way forward.
Utopia is impossible, since a perfect world will never exist because human desires, ambitions, and conflicts are always shifting. And at the same time Dystopia is too simplistic: while technology has created new risks, it has also historically improved life across almost every measurable dimension.
So for him, 'Protopia' is the real path forward. Instead of a perfect future, Protopia is about incremental progress: small, daily improvements which in themselves are almost imperceptible but which compound over time to create huge impact.
Kelly argues that every year, the world gets slightly better. While the media is flooded with negative headlines about crises, disasters, and failures, the broader trends show that poverty is decreasing, literacy is rising, medicine is improving, and technology is advancing in ways that enhance human potential.
Protopia does not ignore risks, but it rejects the idea that technology is leading us to inevitable collapse. Instead, Kelly believes that the future is a constant work-in-progress, messy, imperfect, and unpredictable, but always moving forward.
In these increasingly unpredictable and uncertain times, it can be hard to keep thinking positively. But I keep believing that we need to regard all our current (huge) challenges as opportunities to do better, and create a world worth living in. If you believe that too, then my business book ‘The Uncertainty Principle’ may be for you.