A tool for immersing people in visions for a better future.
Proposal for: https://cchange.xyz/lab/
In today’s world, it is easier to imagine the end of the world, than it is to imagine a better one. Due to this lack of vision, people assume that the current way of doings is the only or best way of doing things, and anything more radical is ‘impractical’, ‘unrealistic’, or even ‘utopian’ (code for well-intentioned dystopia).
This is just one of the many facets surrounding things like doomerism, fatalism, accelerationism (accelerating technology to reach ‘singularity’ despite the many risks with that), neoliberalism, neo-nazism, eugenics, and many other deeply problematic beliefs.
We need to be able to imagine a better future, if we ever hope to build a better future.
This project is the antithesis to the over proliferation of ‘metaverses’ as nothing more than corporate playgrounds built to extract evermore profit from users through the application of environmentally and economically destructive NFTs, despite the clear warnings of its origins in dystopian fiction.
Instead of walled-off, for-profit gardens, and micro-transaction-riddled virtual worlds built for no other reason than to create artificial scarcity and rug-pull, this will aid the development of an open metaverse, free for everybody to join, remix, and create the future of their dreams... to create a better future for all.
What if we could immerse people in realistic visions of a better future?
This software proposes to create virtual versions of one’s present-day community (whether it be just a neighborhood, a whole city, or an entire region), and then empowers them to remix that community to see what it would look like if it was designed better.
We want to channel the actionably optimistic ideas of solarpunk to create realistic, practical, and inclusive visions of a better future.
People can immerse themselves in those visions via web3D, in virtual reality, or even through the augmented reality lenses of their mobile devices.
Eventually, this tool will educate people on everything from better urban planning, to environmentally-friendly rewilding, to more sustainable, post-capitalist futures.
People will have two main ways to create their ideal community:
As they create, they will receive suggestions (or just be able to search from a curated directory) about more sustainable and walkable communities.