There are several options, perspectives, and presentations for outlining the future. The key here is the question of change: what kind of change awaits us and how it will be achieved. In understanding the change, the question is often approached in the light of weak signals and past trajectories, but change can also be anticipated through concreteness: by experimenting and producing artifacts or intangible assets that emerge from own goals and a mission.
Here, the aim is not in trying to understand the future but to encounter it in a straightforward way: through a creating process.
The progress of phenomena tends to follow a curve of development, beginning with the individuals, the pioneers, who are the ones creating the initiatives or who are the first to adopt them. These forerunners take the first step in a possible change to come.
The aim of the master's thesis study ”Voices from the future:pioneers as a signal of change” is to shed light on the future from the perspective of pioneering and pioneers: what are the characteristics of a pioneer and what kind of futures can be expected based on their views.
The empirical part of the study is based on personal thematic in-depth interviews. An essential factor for the topic is the delimitation of the target group. In this study, 11 individuals were identified as pioneers and further, selected as respondents: they strive for change and actively conduct experiments according to their own vision.
Attitude and capacity underpinning the pioneering spirit.
Every human being is a future maker by nature but pioneers seem to have a special skill to embrace the adventure and seizing the moment spirit. Here, the foundation of pioneering is created through personal resilience as well as network and charisma.
The early stages of the pioneering career seem to involve such great challenges or special qualities that mainstream choices are out of the question. In this case, there is no choice but to choose your own path. Here, coping with failures and social friction creates an essence that takes the steps forward. Diversity also serves as a beacon for those who value distinctive individuals and with that create valuable networks for pioneers.
"My German teacher said: look at that boy, he is nothing: so useless that he can be hit with a log on and put out to dry. Failure at school only reinforced my own path: I did technical stuff with even greater enthusiasm.”*
Pioneers do not hide the power of their subconscious mind and intuition. For some, this is reflected in a form of spirituality and an ability to utilize own senses. A life that calls for for true relevance and respect for own reactions seem to open whole new doors.
The most important characteristics of pioneering are highlighted through the capacity of welcoming the unexpected and seizing the moment. Contrary to what one might think, achieving pioneering goals does not involve a carefully thought-out process, but instead it materializes through the miracle of unplanning, surrendering to the flow moment, and, if successful, the perfect timing.
In practice, this means that the problems that arise are solved holistically instead of a separate one-time execution. In this case, events and things have a possibility to take their best form and evolve into their natural direction - probably somewhere quite elsewhere, which had been thought in advance. The key is to fix your attitude to bend according to the prevailing possibilities.
”I have no visions, there is only this moment. I like to have fun, do what feels right and how the world could become a better place. It is difficult to verify the progress of things afterwards. When you get to the flow, things just start to happen.”*
The ability to create new seems to somewhat depend on the tolerance to withstand shame or guilt: to go beyond judgement and fear. This leads to licence to make mistakes and some level of controlled anarchy. The basic nature of a pioneer could be described as positively reckless: even though the common norms and practices are understood as such, the rules are not totally obeyed. With that, pioneers take a full responsibility for their choices as they are not outsourced for instance to parents, society, media, religion, or popular culture.
The system benefits from the need for confrontation. I do what I do, and I genuinely don’t care what others think of me. […] I have always been censored throughout my career. Censorship only motivates me, there are always ways to find new channels.*
Pioneers allow themselves to get excited and develop a passion for their cause. It seems that building a desirable future requires a shift from confrontation to asking bigger questions. The pioneers are committed to find ultimate solutions to their problems - even for decades.
A lot of time and research is spent simply on understanding the current state and the problem. And when the problem is properly understood, the solutions often appear obvious. Pioneers seem to have at least one common factor, and that is the respect and implementation of their own vision. In practice, this means the right balance between everyday accomplishments and a lifetime adventure.
”It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s relevant in your own sphere. In that case, working turns out to be a playful act, a pure joy without unnecessary squeezing."*
Pioneers prefer excitement instead of the comfortable: the desire for adventure and playfulness lead to a state where impossible turns out to be possible. When motivation comes from within, the producing phase turns out to be a reward as such, and there is no need to target something specific – nor to postpone the progress further. Too much optimization might drive to a point where the success is more important than the trying.
"I've played all my life. Once I switched a fancy Audi to an excavator. I didn’t know how it worked, I just jumped at the wheel. As a child, I paid to swirl in Linnanmäki, now people paid me to spin around on an excavator in their yard.”*
A lesson learned from the pioneers.
Our present world is the result of the hopes and changes of the past: of those which came true and those which did not. Everyone seems to be thirsting for change, but it tends to happen through painful confrontation and even conflict. That is why the world favours obedience, and normative activities.
However, someone always creates the future. If it is not you, it is someone else.
Pioneering approach starts for the most parts with a blank page without ready made agendas. It recognizes the realities of life without allowing them to define their own. Pioneers embody something that does not exist, or that no one has paid attention to before. Suddenly, the impossible becomes possible because someone did it. Someone believed in his or her vision so strongly that something concrete was created out of it.
The pioneering experiments have a possibility to provide signals for change, but above all, they act as agents of change for the surrounding reality by shaking up the old worldviews and systems. Here, it can be speculated that most of the experiments done by pioneers do not develop into a mass phenomenon as such, but instead, the relevance of the action is embraced through the adventurous and welcoming spirit of the pioneering.
Pioneering plays a unique role as a counter force for the fear of the future and with that, it acts as a role model for the change.
Pioneers possess black and white, unconditional, and even stubborn thinking: they see a world that the rest of us do not see. This, on the one hand, calls for restraint and perseverance. Here, the change-makers and pioneers have a potential to demonstrate further that it is possible to create a new standard of life that raises us all to the full potential. It can be argued that by creating opportunities to play at all levels, the true forces of humanity would be unleashed in our society. When life is a struggle for survival, there is not too much room for play. And correspondingly:
when life reaches a point where it is no longer a mere struggle for survival, the structures that prevent the realization of play to come true appear as a mere waste of human life and humanity.
In the age of intangible resources, the value of experience and enthusiasm is most likely to be increased. Although time cannot be changed, it is possible to change personal attitude - indefinitely. On a personal level, it is both about becoming aware of own uniqueness, and simultaneously understanding the big picture above. The anatomy of enthusiasm is unique to everyone, but worth exploring further.
References:
Heinonen, S. & Karjalainen, J. 2019. “Pioneer Analysis as a Futures Research Method for Analysing Transformations.” In Anticipation, Agency and Complexity? edited by R. Poli and M. Valerio, 61-77. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03623-2_5
Partti, R. 2021. "Voices from the future: pioneers as a signal of change" Master Thesis, University of Turku.
*A direct quite based on the interview material of the thesis.
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