> A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. >  – Oscar Wilde The adjacent possible is a concept coined by Stuart Kauffman in his book, At Home in the Universe. It refers to how seemingly impossible options can open up whenever we explore the borders of the possible. This idea is beautifully explained by Steven Johnson: > The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself. Yet it is not an infinite space, or a totally open playing field .... What the adjacent possible tells us is that at any moment the world is capable of extraordinary change, but only certain changes can happen. The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore those boundaries. Each new combination ushers new combinations into the adjacent possible. Think of it as a house that magically expands with each door you open.^[Johnson, Steven. Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation, 2010] The adjacent possible suggests that there are many more spaces of possibility left to explore, and that we can work our way towards a radically different / better future by taking small incremental steps, each of which opens up further possibilities. In 1969, Esquire invited celebrities to suggest the first words Neil Armstrong should say when he set foot on the moon. Musician Sun Ra contributed the following poem, which might be used as an anthem of the adjacent possible: > Reality has touched against myth > Humanity can move to achieve the impossible > Because when you’ve achieved one impossible others > Come together to be with their brother, the first impossible > Borrowed from the rim of the myth > Happy Space Age to you . . . A note of caution, however. While we find the adjacent possible gives us reasons to be optimistic, Kauffman himself believes that the Theory of the Adjacent Possible implies that our civilization faces inevitable collapse, because our inventions will keep multiplying exponentially and outstripping our ability to harness the energy required to use them. <iframe title="The Global Economy and the Anthropocene w/ Stuart Kauffman | Human Patterning Podcast Ep. 14" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N5IgOS7Rg54?feature=oembed" height="113" width="200" allowfullscreen="" allow="fullscreen" style="aspect-ratio: 1.76991 / 1; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe> Therefore, not all "adjacent possibles" are compatible with human or planetary flourishing. It is important to explore adjacent possibles that lead us in the direction of greater simplicity and less-intensive use of energy or material resources, or what Ivan Illich termed "tools of conviviality".