Between Science and Fiction – a conference of the FutureWork Project
17th September 2021 — New professions, activities and as yet unimaginable uses of technologies will influence the world of work and thus our society at the end of the century. The way in which this could happen is being looked at by FutureWork, a joint project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) which has been scientifically examining the future of work since April 2019. At the conference in Karlsruhe on the 17th and 18th September, which can also be followed live via stream, FutureWork will present four scenarios for the work of the day after tomorrow. They describe both positive-utopian and critical-dystopian manifestations of the working world in Germany in the transition to the 22nd century.
"Looking ahead into our working world helps us to plan it optimally. The earlier we start thinking about the future, the better we can set the course," says Dr Claudio Zettel, labour expert at DLR-PT. "At the same time, we know that the further we look into the future, the broader the scope for possible events becomes." In order to dare to look as far as the transition to the 22nd century and also keep an eye on surprising developments – so-called wild cards – FutureWork has consulted unusual sources such as science fiction literature. " In developing future scenarios, it makes sense to take economic, political and cultural aspects into account in addition to work-specific and technological features," maintains FutureWork expert Dr Oliver Pfirrmann from IQIB – Institute for Qualifying Innovation Research and Consulting.
With DLR-PT, IQIB, the ZAK | Centre for Applied Cultural Studies and Studium Generale at KIT, the Institute for Project Management and Innovation at the University of Bremen and the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung e.V., very different partners and perspectives are involved in FutureWork. In addition to expertise in the field of labour research, DLR-PT contributes the systematic application of foresight methods, which are becoming increasingly important in policy advice.
At the conference, researchers and creative minds are to engage with the scenarios and debate further questions about the work of the future. The event is being organised by ZAK (KIT) under the direction of Prof Dr Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha and will open with a panel discussion on the tense relationship between art and labour futures at the ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe at 7 p.m. on Friday, the 17th September. The full-day symposium on Saturday, the 18th September, will focus, among other things, on "good work" in the age of digitalisation. The event will be rounded off with short readings by science fiction authors which can be read in the anthology "Future Work – Die Arbeit von übermorgen". The book, the result of a short story competition run within the context of the project, is now available in stores.