Exploring how societies confront existential threats: lessons from fiction, history, and indigenous foresight
Original framing: “Why I started my sci-fi novel with a world-ending supernova” — New Scientist
Future modelling that integrates climate, astrophysical, and socio‑economic variables can generate robust pathways for adaptation, highlighting leverage points such as early warning systems, education curricula, and intergenerational budgeting. Scenario workshops that include diverse stakeholders improve the legitimacy and uptake of these models.
By weaving Indigenous temporal ethics, historical patterns of denial, and cross‑cultural wisdom into scientific risk modelling, we uncover a multi‑layered architecture for societal resilience to planetary threats.
Institutionalizing long‑term governance, participatory foresight, and narrative rehearsal can transform the abstract certainty of a supernova into concrete, equitable action. Marginalised communities, whose lived experience already anticipates such catastrophes, become essential co‑designers, while artistic and trickster lenses keep the discourse vibrant and self‑critical. Together, these strands reframe existential risk from a singular plot twist into a systemic challenge demanding collective, culturally attuned solutions.