The graduation exam of 2050: the result of a foresight exercise

The topics of this year’s first graduation exam test offered interesting insights to think about the past and how this affects the future. Following this logic, we wanted to do an experiment, a foresight exercise. We asked our fans on Facebook and Instagram and our Community to identify themselves with a student who is about to take the graduation exam of 2050. The foresight exercise is an activity that Impactscool already performs in schools and during workshops, which leads people to imagine one of the possible futures with the aim of awakening a critical look at the present, in order to guide the change towards the best of possible futures.

The topics: how has the world changed since 2019? We are in 2050, after a neural alarm and a healthy breakfast based on instant croissant and martian blend coffee we wear our augmented reality contact lenses and explore the topics and answers from the future. In front of the holographic papers, one topic strikes us more than the others: “How has the world changed since 2019? We are in 2050, it seems to me impossible that only 30 years ago … “.

The answers from the future tell us about the present. The answers of our fans and of the Community, as well as showing us one of the possible futures they imagine, also allow us to understand which topics of today are more pressing, what are the challenges we have to face today that will shape our future and what are the most critical instances of the present.

The health of our planet. The most popular topic is clear: the future of the Earth, pollution, the environment. The climate crisis, rightly, has the greatest potential to shape the future, not necessarily for the better. “We have destroyed a paradise and above all ruined our civilization” one fan wrote to us on Instagram, and the answers worried about our future due to environmental upheavals are not few, like that of Luca “it seems impossible that 30 years ago we had so little care to the recycling of materials… we are in 2050 and we are still disposing of the garbage of the past ”; but there are those who are more optimistic and foresee “considerable changes regarding pollution”. Don’t lose hope, the climate crisis can be managed, but we must act immediately.

A science-fiction future. Technology and robotics are two themes that touch our vision of the future. There are those who, like Tommaso, foresee domestic uses “it seems strange to me that just 30 years ago we needed to iron. Fortunately, from 2024 thanks to the nanotechnologies you can have a dress ironed immediately after having slammed it vigorously rearranging the atoms “and who instead sees in the robots a friend” to train you had to call some friend, now you train against a robot “.

But the visions of the future go further and even reach the space. The Earth will not be our only home “it seems impossible that in 2019 we lived only on Earth”, in fact, we will be able “to reach Mars with a team of astronauts” and we will find resources “in space, where we can consume that huge cluster of natural orbiting richness that we call asteroids “.

The society will also change. According to our graduates from 2050 their society will be very different from that of 2019. Several aspects will be revolutionized, starting from the health system. According to Andrea, in fact, “with low-cost, high-precision instruments we can diagnose many diseases in many places and sometimes even at home” and it seems unthinkable that “people would die for something that can be treated like cancer”.

Even in economic relations the future will be very different from the present, writes Riccardo “It seems impossible that notaries still existed only 30 years ago! Thanks to the diffusion of the blockchain, for the certification and conservation of documents, and to the development of Artificial Intelligences able to perform the same functions more effectively and efficiently, their activity has been completely automated”and furthermore for Simone” it seems impossible that 30 years ago we still used money to make the society work “.

In 2050 the mobility will be different, automatic and sustainable: “today the vehicles are all equipped with an autonomous driving system and powered by renewable energy sources” it is unthinkable that in 2019 “we were still driving completely ourselves”.

The students of the future, according to your visions, we will live in a world that is profoundly different from ours, a world perhaps still threatened by the consequences of man’s reckless actions towards the environment and towards his fellow men “it is unthinkable that there was still racism and homophobia” but also a world in which innovation will give a great hand in the challenges we will face.

Some things, however, will never change: “I have just spent 6 hours writing an essay, I’ll reply arguing in 30 years while I am recovering”.