Cloudy Horizons

I published an essay yesterday about horizon scanning and how it can be valuable to maintain a situational awareness about the future (and things in the present that are currently beyond our casual reach and expertise) because that can help us be better prepared for (or otherwise cope with) significant changes as they arise.

Sometimes, though, our horizons are shrouded with haze and are barely legible even to those who spend their entire lives gazing at them with high levels of magnification.

At such moments, previously reliable sources of truth may lose their way, may become disempowered, or may be disbanded; because of money, because of politics, or because new technologies or cultural mores make continued operation near-impossible.

Also at such moment, those who hope to shape our next-step narratives may put on shadow puppet-like performances along the horizon, doing their best to make their vision of the future seem inevitable, when that may in fact be anything but certain.

I would argue that the more uncertain the world is, the more prudent it becomes to bolster, bulwark, shore-up, and in as many ways as possible reinforce ourselves, our foundations, and our communities.