Q: What does “superstruct” mean?
Su`per`struct´ v. t. 1.To build over or upon another structure; to erect upon a foundation.
The Institute for the Future is a think-tank based in California and on October 6th they launched their new project, Superstruct, which bills itself as the “World’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game.” If that sounds a little lofty, it’s because it is. Superstruct is concerned with nothing less than making the future and inventing new ways to “augment our collective human potential.”
Upon registering, your first task is to imagine yourself in 2019 – what you do, what your skills are and how you view the World. It’s an immediately compelling and unnerving experience to do this – the game compels you not to fictionalise a character. This is very much ‘about you’.
It’s a fascinating proposition , and one which is going to take a little time to understand fully. To get started, take yourself over to the how to play page, which gives details of how to play and the missions you will need to complete to progress through the game, which itself is played across wiki’s, forums and other social softwares.
It’s a unique project, made even more so by the limited life it has. Come November 17th, the game will close and prizes will be awarded for the best new Superstructures by a panel of luminiaries including Bruce Sterling, Jimmy Wales and Tim Kring. It’s not too late to be in with a chance of inventing the future.
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