ENVELOOP

a positive vision from the future

This was a lot of fun. Fine Acts is a global creative studio for social impact that recently paired artists with technologists in teams of two for one week and set us on a mission. Myself and Jascha Ephraim were tasked with creating an interactive project that could help deal with people’s current ambivalence towards the climate crisis. How to make it personal. How to get their attention and stir the blood. How to help them find the inspiration to keep making a difference.

Jascha is an artist and Buddhist chaplain with a degree in cognitive science who now works in AI deployment, training AI for specific tasks that require specific results. He’s also a long-time collaborator and friend. Together we created Enveloop, an online activism tool that can deliver you a letter from yourself 30 years in the future. Our goal was to help people first envision a positive future—because you won’t act if you don’t believe. And sometimes you need to see it to believe it.

Enveloop is a device sent from the future, and asks you to answer a few key questions about your current life and your hopes and dreams for the future—allowing Enveloop’s AI to mimic your “voice” and language style. Enveloop then delivers you a message from your future self, telling you a positive, hopeful story where humanity figured it out, reconnected with nature, and learned to take care of each other and our planet. The story includes details from your own life, explaining how you yourself figured it out, your internal compass guiding you on a path of fruition and connection with your planet and your community. Enveloop leverages the inspirational capacity for emotional engagement that sci-fi offers—getting users involved in the climate change discussion without it feeling like a lecture. Fine Acts was thrilled with our submission and is in the process of gathering funding to make Enveloop a reality. Below are two interface options for the Enveloop and the introductory text for each user.

QWI-203 ://  GREETINGS FROM THE FUTURE.  

WE TRUST YOU ARE DOING AS WELL AS CAN BE.  MANY OF US KNOW YOUR TIME WELL AND REMEMBER THE FEELING.  WE WRITE YOU NOW THROUGH A TUNNEL IN TIME AND OFFER AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXCHANGE LETTERS WITH YOUR FUTURE SELF.  WE HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THE FUTURE CAN IN FACT AFFECT THE PRESENT, AS BELIEF IN A POSITIVE FUTURE IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS CREATING ONE.  WE WERE ONCE TAUGHT THIS LESSON BY OUR FUTURE SELVES, SITTING WHERE AND WHEN YOU ARE NOW.  NOW, 30 YEARS LATER, WE SEND YOU THIS DEVICE TO SUSTAIN THIS POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP THROUGH TIME.

THIS IS AN ENVELOOP, QWII EDITION.  IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO WRITE TO YOURSELF 30 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE, WHERE WE ARE NOW.  OPEN THE TEXT FIELD BELOW AND WRITE YOUR LETTER FOLLOWING THE PROMPTS.  WHEN FINISHED, SIMPLY PRESS SEND.  YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL READ YOUR LETTER AND SEND THEIR OWN WITHIN MOMENTS.  THIS LETTER WILL TOTALLY BE FROM THE FUTURE.

OURS IS A SOCIETY RE-BUILT UPON PRINCIPLES OF EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF NECESSARY RESOURCES.  THIS FOUNDATION HAS EXPANDED, ACCELERATED AND DEEPENED BOTH OUR CULTURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, ALLOWING US TO MEET THE CLIMATE CRISIS HEAD ON, FEED AND HOUSE ALL HUMANS, AND DEVELOP THIS METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING ACROSS TIME.

SOON YOU WILL SEE.  IN YOUR OWN WORDS YOU SHALL READ WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THIS TIME YOU NOW SPEND ON THIS PLANET AND YOU WILL REJOICE.  THE SUN WILL SHINE.  THE MOON WILL GLOW.  AND THE STARS WILL BE KNOWN TO BE SUNS.  TAKE CARE AND FOLLOW THE PROMPTS.  GIVE YOUR TIME IN THIS LETTER TO YOURSELF.  ENJOY YOUR OPPORTUNITY.  ENJOY YOUR TIME.  HEAR A SONG AND SING.

A SEED OF INFINITE PROMISE TO YOU AND YOURS,  

 //: POSTAL COMM 12 - THE VILLAGE