Dubai: Radical solutions are essential to address the vast and extraordinary global crises, emphasized speakers at the Dubai Future Forum 2024, the world’s largest gathering of futurists. On the final day of the event, Liam Young, a renowned film director and architect, highlighted the inadequacy of traditional solutions and called for new visions of sustainable futures that are radical, global, and collective in scale.
According to Emirates News Agency, Young spoke during a panel titled ‘Experiences of the Future: How Can They Inspire Change Today?’, where he underscored the power of fiction as a universal language that simplifies complex scientific concepts and engages a broader audience emotionally. “There is extraordinary power in taking the ideas that define who we are and who we could become and finding ways to bring them into the world,” he asserted.
Honor Harger, Executive Director of the Art Science Museum, supported Young’s views by stressing the crucial collaboration between art and science to ta
ckle systemic challenges. “The intertwining of art and science is essential,” she said, highlighting the need for both to work together in dialogue to drive innovation and transform hearts and minds.
Harger also discussed the role of museums in connecting the present with the future, advocating for ‘protopian’ visions that navigate between utopian idealism and dystopian despair. She emphasized the Museum of the Future’s mission to offer a meaningful framework for shaping intentional and purposeful futures.
In a different session titled ‘The Future of Humanity in Time and Space: Where Do We Go from Here?’, Omran Sharaf, UAE’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Advanced Science and Technology, remarked on the importance of space exploration for safeguarding life on Earth. He explained the integration of space-based systems into daily life and their critical role in enhancing sustainability and preparedness through strategic data use.
Adding to the theme of future preparedness, filmmaker and conceptual artist Mic
hael Madsen emphasized the importance of storytelling in addressing existential threats. He highlighted how facing fears of an uninhabitable world could foster hope and political imagination.
The third edition of the Dubai Future Forum, held from 19-20 November at the Museum of the Future, attracted over 2,500 experts from 100 countries, alongside representatives from 100 global organizations specializing in future design.