Futures at the Edge symposium: Tech industry imaginaries at and from the edge

This slow symposium discusses futures at/in/from the edge. It calls for a decentralising vision and asks how people, other species, environment and emerging technologies might live together in the as yet unknown, propelled by its edges

Tech industry imaginaries at and from the edge

A transformative shift in thinking and imagining the future is imperative, to transcend the boundaries of conventional criticism and current imagination. This involves reconceptualizing our relationship to the environment, ethics and equity, through a more-than-human and sociotechnical lens. 

This panel explores the pervasive presence of technological imaginaries across various industries, such as the energy, technology and health sectors, and asks how we can make them more plausible, inclusive and desirable.  Dominant neoliberal industry imaginaries are incredibly influential. They include assumptions about social and technological change which permeate industry discourses, media portrayals, people's everyday lives and research agendas. Through interrogating current industry imaginaries, this panel asks difficult questions about how we can disrupt them, and what consequences this disruption can have.  Focusing particularly on challenging imaginaries from the "edge" (conceptually, geographically, institutionally, and personally), the panel will explore new routes for radical and sustainable change.