Your task
You need to define a plan of action to solve a challenge on your world. Use your creative thinking skills to come up with solutions. Consider what you know about your own world and other worlds. Explore where your defined ways of working will be an asset and where they might be a liability.
Draw up your plan on a flip chart ready to share with the Conference Delegates when they return.
The challenge: The rumour
A rumour is moving quickly through your world: another world may be planning to use your section of the solar system and technologies for its own advantage.
No one knows whether the rumour is true. Some people say that the best response is to remain completely open and friendly; closing off contact would damage harmony. Others say that your world has been too trusting in the past and must immediately restrict access and stop sharing information.
Consider:
Because your world values freedom and mistrusts formal systems, no single person can simply impose a decision.
- How will you check whether the rumour is reliable?
- What will you protect while you find out more?
- How will you create boundaries without becoming closed or hostile?
- How will a free society make a shared decision without relying on a permanent authority?
- Which world or worlds would you approach, and why?
- What information, skills or resources could they provide?
- How will you approach them so that you preserve your world’s openness, while not repeating the mistakes of trusting too quickly?
What has happened before
In the past, your world has responded to problems by talking openly, building relationships and sharing information that people might find useful.
This has helped people get along, but it has also created vulnerabilities:
- Information was shared too widely before it was checked.
- People assumed goodwill when others had different motives.
- Individuals or groups took advantage of your world’s generosity.
- In trying to keep the peace, the world sometimes avoided difficult conversations or clear boundaries.
- Strong relationships and informal networks.
- The ability to gather information quickly through conversation.
- A culture of equality and open participation.
- People who can connect groups and reduce conflict.
- A strong desire for harmony and mutual understanding.
