This year at MozFest the Tech & Biodiversity Space: Legado 2060 wants to ignite your creativity and take part in writing a love story between humans, biodiversity and technology. Steered by MozFest’s motto for collective power, our Space pushes this forward with the strength of storytelling. We give this an extra layer of magic entwining the wisdom of technologists, activists, hackers, researchers, policymakers and environmentalists to hack our climate crisis.

Sci-fi telenovelas for climate justice

“despite the heavy dependence of Latin American television on corporate sponsorship, the telenovela has created the space for critical-realist dramas whose narratives [and controversial issues such as, for instance, women’s liberation (Vink, 1988), political corruption (Porto, 1998; 2001) and homosexuality (La Pastina, 2002)] have called attention to actual conflicts and mobilized public opinion for social change.”* (see footnote for reference)

To onboard this mission we want to weave and foreground the global universe of initiatives inspired by telenovelas, proxies of soap operas. Research shows how this genre has been instrumental to reinforce and counter narratives, to educate and shift behaviours. This popular media from Latin America has been massively reproduced across regions, which have developed later their own productions. You can learn about telenovelas by watching “Rich people also cry”, “My secret”, “Coffee with a woman’s aroma”, “Maria from the neighbourhood” and “Wild doll”.

Telenovela Backstory: Legado 2060: In a future not so far away…

We live in a technological society, practically without nature. A love story between a mucha lucha robot, an androgynous AI machine being, and an inverted mermaid (top fish and bottom human) were born out of a hostile environment of an already degenerated nature.

Nature practically no longer exists on planet Earth. The little that is left is exploited by illegal gold miners. These also search other ores for manufacturing chips and electronic components.

Rivers are polluted, wild animals are hunted, many of them already almost extinct, for the production of miracle remedies, protective amulets, and other purposes of dubious characteristics.

Capitalists exploit everything they can, leaving a devastated land where they pass. However, there are still cyborg natives defending what little biodiversity is left.

The story has a happy ending where everything is positively resolved and technology, biodiversity, and human beings live an ideal romance (as in soap operas).

Absurd ego fights between Society, Politics and Economy

+ Chapter 1: Setting the scene, introducing the story.

+ Chapter 2: Drama between the characters Politics, Economy and Society.

+ Chapter 3: Unexpected plot twist: Is technology evil or Prince Charming?

+ Chapter 4: Happily ever after between humans, nature and biodiversity.

Our futuristic telenovela is about an absurd ego fight and love story. We will collaborate with Facilitators and Participants to write the different chapters of Legado 2060. We invite everyone to be inspired by taking part in thought provoking discussions, unlocking skills in workshops, emergent encounters, immersing our imagination in dialogues, videos, arts and media. These MozFest takeaways would be embodied in editable illustrations with your ideas, initiatives, and our collective power.

For example, with some facilitators we’ve brainstormed on MozFest prep Zooms and Slack a thread with three sessions coming together like this: “A cannabis punk robot meets with a doughnut to ask for advice in a forest of Tree Coins. In 2060 the world is green and getting greener. Tree Coins rule the economy and get produced by mining companies that have turned into tree planting giants. Virtual realities are getting replaced with real-realities again. Going full circle early human life forms such as hunter gatherer are being optimised by robots and AI restricting the overuse of resources creating abundance. All this is thanks to the idea of AI learning to breath. From then on AI understood the base frequency of mother earth and pure consciousness became the new Operating System”

Does a MozFest session represent a potential character? Did a panel Q & A action a point of no return for our future? Could a current climate or social justice movement initiative be the background of the final chapter?

Schedule these key activities on Monday, March 20, to boost your creativity and get started writing this telenovela with us!

• Creative writing workshop with MozFest’s fabulous Communications Director
• T&B Opening session ¡Mucha Lucha!

On Friday we’ll be launching the result of our efforts and celebrating our community at the T&B Premiere of Legado 2060.

Please share your creations on social media, our Space Slack channel or email ([email protected]). Don’t forget to tag @mozillafestival and #MozFest2023 and add relevant references to boost the posts such as #Biodiversity #Climate #ArtificialIntelligence!

Tune in for the final episode to uncover Paradise

Since 2022 MozFest has been inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Legado 2060's final episode unravels a paradise due to the force of its love to bring us together as one world. This passion is such that it crosses over egos of disciplines, classes, geographies, cultures, generations and (digital) beings to fight for our future. Take the role in this post-apocalypse and act upon the dawning of a new beginning!

Join the Tech & Biodiversity: Legado 2060 Space at MozFest and help us write our future. Build out your schedule, embrace emergent encounters, and join our Slack channel.

*La Pastina, A. C., Rego, C. M., & Straubhaar, J. D. (2003). The centrality of telenovelas in Latin America’s everyday life: Past tendencies, current knowledge, and future research. Global Media Journal, 2(2), 1-15.