Primary imagining needed
We need new, original memories of the futures that we want to create.
At this time, there are many loud voices calling for the 'reimagining' of things.
The global fashion industry says that they need to reimagine how our clothing is made, because current methods are seriously polluting the planet.
Economists and some politicians want a reimagining of capitalism, because the present model creates unsustainable levels of inequality and environmental damage.
Some even want us to have a reimagining of democracy and how it could work in the future.
The problem with the task of reimagining anything is that it is calling for us to go back into the entrenched mental memory that we have of that thing - and somehow reorder the way we think about it to create something new.
That sounds pretty simple, but our brains tend to be pretty tenacious as to how they hold onto ideas that we already understand.
Reimagining is a bit like taking a VW Golf GTI hatchback (and because of global warming, roads are now flooded and have become water canals, you need a boat rather than a car) and trying to recreate it as a brand new vehicle, which is fully capable of getting you from A to B on water.
A reimagining of something that already has legacy and occupies existing mental real estate is not the best way to create something new, that actually serves and delivers on the fresh mandate that you want from it.
You cannot create something new from the decaying parts of the old.
What is needed when what was existing no longer seems to work is primary imagining of how the ideal outcome might be achieved.
We don't need capitalism: we need an economic system that is fair, transparent, benefits the most number of people in the world and eliminates the destruction of the planet as a by-product.
We don't need democracy: we need a way to hold public officials to account and a method under which they can transparently operate which produces equitable public policy that ensures the maximisation of the potential of a nation state.
Creating these systems won't be as a result of a reimagining of what we already have - it needs brand new thinking, original imagining, new ideas as to how we produce what we want.
We need new, original memories of the futures that we want to create - a primary imagining of how it could be.