Skip to content →

Institute for Prospective Cognition​

The Institute for Prospective Cognition (IPC) is an international, interdisciplinary innovation devoted to the scholarly investigation of the forward-looking nature of human cognition and the means by which it emerges and expresses itself within individual consciousness, group communication and cultural sustainment. Central to this perspective is the belief that consciousness, communication and culture emerged and survived over the course of evolution precisely because of their inherently prospective nature. The multi-scale coupling that exists among these capacities—our individual ability to think ahead, our group ability to share ideas and organize around them, and our cultural ability to embody these virtual agendas into the architecture of our environment, via the arts and sciences—has given rise to an increasingly prospective world. The contexts in which we now develop, interact, and sustain ourselves, have evolved with us into external embodiments of our inherently prospective nature.

The Institute for Prospective Cognition (IPC) is an international, interdisciplinary innovation devoted to the scholarly investigation of the forward-looking nature of human cognition and the means by which it emerges and expresses itself within individual consciousness, group communication and cultural sustainment. Central to this perspective is the belief that consciousness, communication and culture emerged and survived over the course of evolution precisely because of their inherently prospective nature. The multi-scale coupling that exists among these capacities—our individual ability to think ahead, our group ability to share ideas and organize around them, and our cultural ability to embody these virtual agendas into the architecture of our environment, via the arts and sciences—has given rise to an increasingly prospective world. The contexts in which we now develop, interact, and sustain ourselves, have evolved with us into external embodiments of our inherently prospective nature.

As the human species continues to make the world more and more in its own image, individuals, groups and cultures are pressured to either come to grips with the increasingly abstract, almost virtual nature of the realities in which they live, or face the possibility of being left behind as the gap between those who are prepared, and those who are not, increases. 

Given this increase in the prospective nature of our world, it is imperative we better understand our prospective abilities and the ways they are coupled with the larger scale prospective dynamics of groups and culture. The IPC is committed to this mission.


Upcoming Events

2018-2019 speakers for Virtually Human: Science, Art, and the 21st Century Self announced soon

Skip to toolbar