Foresight, Forecast and Futurology in Reverse: Towards Cul-tural Sustainability via STEAM

The overall focus of this discussion is the integration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) approaches into future thinking, structured around three key dimensions. First, it examines the conceptual distinctions between foresight, forecasting, and futurology, highlighting how each concept frames the anticipation of the futures in different ways. Second, it introduces a reverse approach through the con-cept of “Retrosight” - a perspective in which alternative futures are not projected line-arly but imagined creatively via art-based STEAM practices. It explores the SMS (Sto-ries based on Music about Scientists) method (STEAM approach), which involves com-posing original music based on poems written by scientists (17th-20th centuries), poetry or musical compositions dedicated to them with digital images. SMS is a narrative method that integrates music and storytelling to humanize scientific futures and recon-nect with enduring questions. Third, the discussion illustrates how creative methods can be applied in practice - through illustrated art experiments that map uncertainty and reframe how we approach complex future challenges. The role of science, educa-tion, and planetary health is central to this exploration, drawing on original SMS com-positions using poetry by James Maxwell, Francis Bacon, and Alfred Nobel. These SMS songs offer a creative lens through which to explore questions still relevant today with philosophical and scientific concern. As recognized by the WHO (World Health Organ-isation) and the European Commission, Art is essential not only for health and homeo-stasis, but it serves as a key component of cultural sustainability. STEAM-based SMS experiments can be ideally applied to futures studies from a management perspective grounded in framework of Retrosight.