HOW DO WE CREATE THE FUTURE WHEN THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN?

HOW DO WE CREATE THE FUTURE WHEN THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN?

Two days of context, solutions, people and possibilities.

 

Why do the same crises keep coming back?

Climate disruption. Conflict. Chronic disease. Economic insecurity. Broken food systems. Failing institutions. Criminal justice failures. Disinformation. Resource depletion. Displacement. Inequality.

We often treat them as separate problems.

They are not.

They are symptoms of systems that were largely designed for another time — systems that too often extract, exclude, concentrate power, create dependency or solve one problem while creating another.

The challenge is no longer simply, “How do we fix the problems”? but instead, the deeper question is

 “How do we create systems that protect human rights, improve quality of life and work with the realities of an interconnected world?”

MOBILIZED: IMX brings together people who understand the problems and people who are already solving them.

  • Not simply to talk about what is wrong.
  • To understand why it keeps happening.
  • To discover what is already working.
  • To connect people doing the work.
  • And to help people participate in creating what comes next.

DAY ONE

WHAT ARE THE SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS KEEPING US TRAPPED IN RECURRING CRISES?

  • We connect the dots.
  • What is breaking down?
  • Why?
  • What are the root causes?
  • How are human rights affected?
  • Who is already creating better systems?

DAY TWO

HOW DO WE CREATE THE FUTURE WHEN THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN?

We move from understanding to opportunity.

  • Who is solving the problems?
  • What are they doing differently?
  • What can be replicated?
  • What new careers, skills and opportunities are emerging?
  • Where can people participate?

THE RESULT

Two days designed to transform:

  • Information into understanding.
  • Understanding into possibilities.
  • Possibilities into connections.
  • Connections into action.

MOBILIZED: IMX

  • Human Rights Through Systems Change + Design.
  • Understand the change.
  • Meet the people changing it.
  • Discover your place in what comes next.

DAY ONE

WHAT ARE THE SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS KEEPING US TRAPPED IN RECURRING CRISES?

Purpose: Understand what is changing, why existing systems repeatedly fail, how those failures affect human rights, and who is already building alternatives.

9:00 — Opening: The world is upside down

Why seemingly separate crises are connected.

The central proposition:

We cannot solve interconnected problems with fragmented systems.

Set up the IMX lens:

  • Human rights
  • Systems thinking
  • Root causes
  • Whole-system design
  • Solutions already working

9:20 — HUMAN RIGHTS: What are systems supposed to protect?

Jack Healey — Human Rights Action Center

  • Start with the human being.
  • What happens when institutions, economies and technologies lose sight of the rights they were supposed to serve?
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights becomes the reference point for the entire IMX.

Central question:

What would our systems look like if human rights were part of their design rather than an afterthought?

10:00 — THE BIG PICTURE: The systems transformation already underway

James Arbib — RethinkX

  • Energy. Transportation. Food. Technology. Artificial intelligence.
  • Multiple systems are being disrupted simultaneously.

The conversation:

  • What is changing?
  • Why is it happening?
  • What disappears?
  • What becomes possible?
  • How should communities prepare?

Central question:

Are we trying to preserve yesterday’s systems or designing what comes next?

11:00 — PEOPLE DOING THE WORK: Energy + resources

Short, focused presentations from practitioners.

Not theories.

Show:

  • The problem
  • The root cause
  • What they changed
  • What is working
  • What others can learn
  • How it can scale

12:00 — BREAK

12:30 — HEALTH: Why do we manage disease instead of creating health?

Dr. Michael Ozner

Move from a disease-management system toward prevention and healthier living systems.

Examine:

  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Environment
  • Prevention
  • Healthcare incentives
  • Community health

Central question:

What would healthcare look like if its primary purpose was keeping people healthy?

1:15 — PEOPLE DOING THE WORK: Food + public and planetary health

  • Farmers.
  • Doctors.
  • Researchers.
  • Food innovators.
  • Community health practitioners.
  • People demonstrating healthier approaches on the ground.

2:15 — JUSTICE: How do we create a criminal justice system that works?

Chris J. Mancini
Barry James Dyke

Move beyond the question of whether the existing system needs reform.

Ask what the system is supposed to accomplish.

  • Public safety?
  • Accountability?
  • Rehabilitation?
  • Restoration?
  • Human rights?

Then examine what a system designed around those outcomes would look like.

3:15 — PEOPLE DOING THE WORK: Justice + human rights

Practitioners working in:

  • Restorative justice
  • Community safety
  • Rehabilitation
  • Legal reform
  • Human rights
  • Violence prevention

4:00 — CONNECTING THE DOTS

What did we learn?

  • Health connects to food.
  • Food connects to energy.
  • Energy connects to economics.
  • Economics connects to communities.
  • Technology connects to virtually everything.
  • Justice connects to human rights.

And none can be redesigned effectively in isolation.

DAY ONE TAKEAWAY

The crises are connected because the systems are connected.

The question for Day Two:

What do we build instead?

DAY TWO

HOW DO WE CREATE THE FUTURE WHEN THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN?

Purpose: Move from diagnosis to possibility — and from possibility to participation.

9:00 — What if we designed the systems we actually need?

A short recap of Day One.

Then change the question.

Instead of:

What is wrong?

Ask:

What would work?

9:20 — PEOPLE DOING THE WORK: The solution showcase

A rapid succession of practitioners from around the world.

Possible areas:

  • Clean and renewable energy
  • Food production and distribution
  • Circular production
  • Public and planetary health
  • Smarter communities
  • Transportation and mobility
  • Human rights
  • Digital democracy
  • Media and information
  • Finance and local economies

Every presentation follows the same simple format:

THE PROBLEM

What isn’t working?

THE CHANGE

What did you do differently?

THE RESULT

What happened?

THE OPPORTUNITY

Can others replicate it?

THE CONNECTION

Who do you need?

11:30 — FROM SOLUTIONS TO SYSTEMS

Individual innovations are not enough.

How do successful projects become new infrastructure?

Explore:

  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Education
  • Community ownership
  • Technology
  • Media
  • Partnerships
  • Replication

Central question:

How do we move from isolated success stories to systems that work?

12:15 — BREAK

1:00 — THE NEW CAREER ECONOMY

This becomes one of the most important distinctions of the new IMX.

Systems change does not only eliminate old ways of working.

  • It creates new work.
  • New industries.
  • New skills.
  • New businesses.
  • New professions.
  • New opportunities.

1:15 — WHERE THE NEW JOBS ARE COMING FROM

Short sessions across emerging fields:

  • Clean energy
  • AI + responsible technology
  • Cybersecurity
  • Next-generation transportation
  • Circular manufacturing
  • Food innovation
  • Preventive health
  • Community resilience
  • Restorative justice
  • Local economic development
  • New media + storytelling
  • Systems design

2:30 — HOW DO I GET THERE?

Bring in the trainers.

  • Educators.
  • Certification programs.
  • Apprenticeships.
  • Universities.
  • Independent training organizations.
  • Employers.
  • Practitioners.

Answer the questions people actually have:

  • What skills do I need?
  • How long does training take?
  • What does it cost?
  • Can I learn online?
  • Where are the opportunities?
  • Who is hiring?
  • How can I start?

3:30 — THE OPPORTUNITY EXCHANGE

Turn the audience from spectators into participants.

  • I have a solution.
  • I need a solution.
  • I have a skill.
  • I need a skill.
  • I have a project.
  • I need collaborators.
  • I can teach.
  • I want to learn.
  • I can fund.
  • I need support.
  • I have a story.
  • I need media.

This is where the Mobilized ecosystem becomes useful.

4:15 — FROM IMX TO ACTION

IMX does not end when the event ends.

Participants continue through Mobilized:

SIGNALS
Understand what is changing.

THE BIG PICTURE
Understand why.

SOLUTIONS
See what is working.

PEOPLE + PROJECTS
Discover who is doing the work.

LEARN
Build the skills.

THE EXCHANGE
Find needs, opportunities and collaborators.

PARTICIPATE
Become part of the work.

4:45 — CLOSING

The two-day journey comes down to three questions:

  • What is breaking down?
  • What is already working?
  • What role can each of us play in creating what comes next?

And one final idea:

  • The future is not a spectator sport.
  • It is something we create together.

THE SIMPLEST WAY TO UNDERSTAND THE TWO DAYS

DAY ONE

WHAT’S WRONG — AND WHO IS FIXING IT?

Understand the systemic problems behind today’s recurring crises and meet people already creating better ways forward.

DAY TWO

HOW DO WE CREATE WHAT COMES NEXT?

Meet more problem-solvers, discover emerging careers and skills, and find ways to participate.

The thread connecting both days:

HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH SYSTEMS CHANGE + DESIGN

That, I believe, gives the new two-day IMX a much clearer identity. It is no longer a collection of conference sessions. Day One creates understanding. Day Two creates possibility and a pathway into action.