WTFuture?!

We are living through a moment of profound transition. Technology is accelerating at unprecedented speed, ecological disruptions are intensifying, and longstanding assumptions about work and careers may be collapsing before our eyes. For almost all of us, these head-spinning changes can easily lead to anxiety, confusion, and even despair. WTFuture?! is designed to meet these feelings directly—and to transform them into clarity, context, and agency.

This course offers students a big-picture orientation to the world they are inheriting. We begin by mapping the present: key trends in the global economy, the frontiers of digital technology and artificial intelligence, environmental pressures, and shifting cultural narratives. From there, we step back to understand how we arrived here. Students explore the historical forces that shaped the modern world, including the rise of capitalism, the scientific and technological revolutions, and the complex dynamics of globalization. These developments are examined not as abstract history, but as living forces that shape students’ lives.

In the final phase of the course, we turn toward the future. Together, we examine a range of plausible trajectories—including techno-utopian visions, dystopian outcomes, and scenarios of partial or systemic collapse. Students learn to evaluate these futures critically, determine which ones seem most likely, and then formulate empowered responses.

Throughout the course, the emphasis is not on prediction, but on orientation. Students develop the capacity to think historically, reason systemically, and situate their own lives within a larger planetary story. WTFuture?! equips young people with the intellectual tools and emotional grounding they need to face an uncertain future with curiosity, discernment, and a sense of meaningful participation.