The Future I Want...

What is the future you want?

The Future I Want is a narrative-based AI world-building art project — a journey into an optimistic future that emphasizes technological progression, environmental harmony, thriving communities, and the profound joy of simply being alive.

Edge City Lanna, Chiang Mai, Thailand

I spent the last month living at Edge City Lanna, a pop-up city with emphasis on health, technology, community, and many things in between.

The community at Edge City Lanna have passions vary from decentralized technology to multi-generational living, from all kinds of novel ideas about health, culture, and mindfulness to cutting-edge social, infrastructural, and climate technologies. Here you’ll have delightful conversations about XR, future cities, nature, communities, being a nomad, building families, making art, coding with AI, coordination protocols… the list goes on.

I’ve been learning about the concept of Protopia for a while, and it seems to be an unspoken focus here from the community at Edge City Lanna. ☀️

Being immersed in this environment, I was so inspired by many optimistic possible future scenarios that can be manifested within the next decades.

Aside from many good things, the seemingly ‘un-slowable’ acceleration of technology also brings many concerns, like our collective existential risk with the increasingly impending climate and resource challenges.

There is this new culture that is emerging at unique places like Edge City, among many other communities that are motivated and passionate about building Protopias. Something I’ve been contemplating a lot is creating narratives, lores, and stories that talk about these spaces, and their ways of living.

An AI Art Worldbuilding Project

For the Edge City Lanna Hackathon, I worked with Colton Orr, a brilliant artist and a dear friend, on a music video that talks about our future with a pluralistic, optimistic view.

The intention for this art project is to craft narratives about a positive, bright future, focusing on elements often neglected in conventional accelerationist, tech-forward visions. This includes celebrating aspects like community, family, mindfulness, compassion, sensuality, and gentleness.

Pluriverse — a world where many worlds exist.

Our vision for a great future is pluralistic, where diversity and culture flourish, supported by advanced technology.

This art video is the first manifestation of the protopian ideas we’ve been exploring for years, deeply influenced by the culture of Edge City, Ethereum, and the communities evolving around these projects. These are technologies and communities that we think would ultimately inspire many pluralistic Protopias to exist.

World Highlights

Here are some highlights of the cultures and ethos of this world.

Solarpunk Farms and Families

Communities powered by renewable energy, with flourishing green spaces and close-knit family bonds.

Philosopher World Leaders & Mindfulness Technology

Leaders are philosophers with floating mind-control devices that integrate mindfulness practices into daily life.

Tech Acceleration: Gene Editing, Hover Bikes, Space Colonies

A world where technological advances include gene editing, hover transportation, and multi-generational colonies in space.

Sovereign Nature

Nature entities with recognized legal rights, honored as intelligent beings to foster a more harmonious environment.

Living as One

Recognizing the value of all beings on earth, we continuously strive for a cohesive existence with nature and other species.

Honoring the Past

Building *Protopias* rather than *Utopias* — embracing our past’s imperfections and working iteratively toward a better future.

Gathering and Celebration

Joyful gatherings, dance, and community celebrations remain central as humanity moves forward.

Honoring Builder Spirits

Honoring the builders of our culture who tirelessly strive to create Utopias, even when they are born outside of them.

Softness and Sensuality

Safe, soft spaces to nurture emotional and physical well-being, with a celebration of divine femininity.

Enjoy the Video!

Full Lyrics

The future I want...

I want sun to power our farms and flowers
our water to be clear
I want my family to spend more time with each others
I want our night markets to be safe and beautiful

The future I want,
The future I want,

I want to see kids racing on hover boards
wheels that glide,
flowing as beams
through city’s tide.

The future I want,
The future I want,

Gene editing? of course, that would be fun
Launch rockets to space, yeah let's do that.
Go to another planet, why not?

The future I want...

I want mindful masters to help us talk to each others.
I want philosophers to be our world leaders.
I want compassion and intention to be in our text books.
So we really learn to love each others,
before we do anything else
before we do anything else.

The future I want...

I want nature to be sovereign entities,
having their own voice, space, and representatives.
I want our world to flourish with all lives, all beings.
Because we should be here together, all of us
living as one entity
living as one entity

Let's not forget that we are such amazing, resilient creatures.
We will live under water, in mountains, in jungles, in desert.
We keep existing, beyond wars and disasters.

As long as we breath, we celebrate.
As long as we are humans, we would find ways to gather.

We'll build our Utopia, everywhere we go
again and again,
we made many attempts from the past,
we don't get it right the first time,
let's keep building

I want our world to be soft and gentle.
I want there to always be spaces that you can be vulnerable.
I want us to take care of our mothers.
gently flow into each others

The future I want, is the future where everyone is around.
To be surrounded by
our softness and courage,
our minds and wonder,
our speed and resilience,
our world and the universe

The future I want, is the future that we can have together.
To be surrounded by
our beauty and wit,
our friends and nature,
our culture and love.
our dreams into reality.

Tech Stack

We used AI to rapidly iterate and refine ideas. Our tech stack includes:

• Kling AI

• Suno AI

• Midjourney

• Eden.Art

• Runway.ml

• Photoshop

• Figma

• Davinci Resolve

Thank you!

Thank you for reading, subscribe to follow along our journey ;)