What would charity be like in a futuristic world?

Archibugi developed the concept of what he calls ‘blade runner economics‘ which shows that when think about a distant future we tend to vastly over-estimate some aspects and vastly under-estimate other aspects. His example from the film Blade Runner, which was released in 1982, is that the film shows an over-estimated expectation of bio-technological developments in the existence of replicants and an under-estimated expectation of the effects of ICT and internet connected devices.

There are two useful trains of thought here; 1) that in imagining the society and charity of the future we’re also likely to fall into the same over- and under-estimation trap, and 2) if Blade Runner or any other science fiction film shows us a possible futuristic world, what might a charity operating in that world be doing?

Films about the future often paint a dark dystopian picture of the world (granted this is because it’s a film with a plot that relies on such a vision). What would a charity look like in such a world? What issues would they tackle? Would charities even exist?

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