Deep futures: beyond money and machines

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to briefly introduce the concept of Deep Futures (DF) and the emerging discipline of Postconventional Futures Studies (PFS).i This paper is exploratory, consistent with the nature of this largely unexplored territory. The goal is to outline potential applications and benefits for Foresight and Futures practitioners. Deep Futures can be viewed in a historical context, as a development which emerged from earlier expressions of Futures Studies, especially Multi-perspective and Critical Futures Studies. DF incorporates recognised Futures methodologies and philosophies, and then adds new concepts and tools incorporating other ways of knowing. This new sphere of Futures is yet to crystallise into a definitive body of work, so its uses remain somewhat speculative. It will be argued that the primary function of DF at present is to act as a provocation to the dominant discourses of all disciplines, and to offer dissent to more conventional Foresight and Futures work. It thus presents the possibility of deepening the way we see the past, present, and future