Josh Fouts Imagination as the Foundation of the Future

Another of the national bioneers speakers via teleconferencing, Josh Fouts talked about the kinds of work he's been doing exploring imagination as the important commodity of the future (well, we need it now already.)  He gave various examples from the work he's been doing in a variety of situations.
There's no way I can cover this all and keep up with what other things are going on, except to alert you to some of his work through other websites.

He began and ended with this quote:

The creative adult is the child who has survived.
Ursula K. Le Guin

Here's a blog he does with his partner Rita King.

Here's the Bioneer's website's description of the presentation (Rita wasn't there.)

The Emerging Imagination Age

Visionary media innovators Josh Fouts and Rita King call this time “The Imagination Age.” From sudden revolutions in the Middle East to “unimaginable” natural and human made technological and economic disasters, our world is in a state of radical transformation and readjustment. At the same time, powerful new media are emerging that could presage a hopeful new global culture and economy. Josh and Rita illuminate how extraordinary new tools — virtual worlds, games and the worldwide web — can leverage global cultural empowerment and educational reform, amplified by creativity, collaboration, art and music.

About the Presenters:

Joshua S. Fouts, a writer, journalist, gamer and technologist, is a Senior Fellow for Digital Media and Public Policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress, a Next Generation Fellow at The American Assembly, and Executive Producer at Dancing Ink Productions. Fouts has an extensive career on the cutting-edge of journalism, online media, games, culture and foreign policy and a history exploring the impact of new technology tools for media years before they are adopted by the mainstream. In 2005 he was the first person to propose and direct a project illuminating how virtual worlds could be used for cultural relations.

Rita J. King is the Founding Director of Dancing Ink Productions, a company that works with major clients focused on the emergence of a new global culture and economy in the Imagination Age. King is Innovator-in-Residence at IBM’s Analytics Virtual Center, a former Senior Fellow at The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Then there's Science House

Welcome to

Science House has a simple mission: bring people together to promote and advance science.
We have three primary components:

	NETWORK
The Science House Network brings scientists together with people outside their normal circles - like journalists, film makers or entrepreneurs. We'll be holding informal talks and educational sessions and helping start discussions on all things science.

	CAPITAL
Science House Capital invests in early stage science-driven ventures and provides ongoing support to help create startup companies. From business plan drafting to intro-ductions to potential investors, Science House Capital is here to help.

	FOUNDATION
Science House Foundation helps share the excitement of science with kids all over the world. We fund educational programs, buy equipment, sponsor prizes, competitions and more. Let's talk about helping kids discover the wonder of science!

Something else is happening. There's another day of this tomorrow, and tonight at Wendy Williamson there's a talk. From the Alaska Bioneers website.

October 15th Saturday Evening 7:30pm-9:30pm Keynote with Thomas J. Elpel The New Era of Self-Sufficiency It is easy to be overwhelmed at the magnitude of the challenges we face as a species, when the whole world seems to be careening towards economic and environmental collapse. How can we adapt to a rapidly changing world, build a sustainable civilization, and put the brakes on climate change? Thomas J. Elpel, author of Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills, suggests that we can start by taking our shoes off and getting back in touch with the earth. We can rediscover our connection to nature through the traditional knowledge of our ancestors. By living close to the earth we can gain the physical grounding necessary to re-examine the challenges we face as a society and find answers to some of the most vexing problems that face our species. Thomas Elpel is the director of Green University® LLC and Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School LLC in Pony, Montana. (www.hollowtop.com). He has authored six books and produced six videos on topics ranging from wilderness survival and botany to green building and consciousness. Elpel connects the dots from wilderness survival to sustainable living, showing how the quest for survival in nature functions as a metaphor for living that empowers us to see new solutions in the modern world. Keynote with Tamarack Song Remembering: a Key to Weathering the Changes