IMAGINE 2036 Survey: A Qualitative Analysis

Overview

Evermay’s IMAGINE 2036 survey invited participants to reflect on the decade ahead: their hopes for themselves, their families, and humanity more broadly; their greatest concerns; and one technology or policy – real or imagined – that could help make their hoped-for future possible.

Although the survey distinguished between personal and collective futures, respondents themselves rarely maintained that separation. This analysis therefore intentionally collapses personal and collective hopes and fears, reflecting how participants actually described the future: as something shared, systemic, and interdependent.

Respondents spanned multiple age ranges, racial and ethnic identities, religious backgrounds, and geographic locations. Across these differences, similar hopes and concerns surfaced.

The analysis below focuses on three questions:

1. What kind of future do people hope for?
2. What do they fear could undermine it?
3. What single intervention – real or imagined – might help make that future possible?

Hopes for 2036

Across responses, participants imagined a future defined less by radical novelty than by stability, dignity, care, and moral grounding.

Several hopeful themes emerged consistently:

• Human-centered values and ethics. Many respondents emphasized compassion, fairness, justice, and a renewed sense of responsibility toward one another.
• Economic security and basic stability. Participants frequently described the hope of having enough – enough income, opportunity, and security to live without constant precarity.
• Health, safety, and meaningful connection. Physical and mental well-being, personal safety, and stronger family and community relationships were described as essential conditions for a good life.
• Care for the planet. Environmental stewardship was rarely treated as separate from human flourishing, but as foundational to any viable future.

Together, these responses suggest a future imagined not as dramatically unfamiliar, but as more wisely organized around human needs and long-term wellbeing.

Greatest Fears and Perceived Threats

When asked what could threaten these hoped-for futures, respondents again collapsed the personal and the collective, pointing to systemic failures rather than isolated risks.

• Governance failures and corruption. Poor leadership, corruption, mismanagement, and concentration of power were among the most frequently cited concerns.
• Environmental degradation. Respondents frequently cited climate change, often expressing frustration at what they described as delayed or insufficient collective action.
• Erosion of shared values and trust. Many respondents worried about selfishness, polarization, declining empathy, and social fragmentation.
• Inequality and lack of education. Economic disparity, discrimination, and limited access to education were seen as forces that intensify other threats.

Across responses, a clear pattern emerged: the greatest risks are not a lack of solutions but an inability to act collectively and sustain wise choices over time.

One Thing That Could Help Make These Futures Possible

Participants were asked to name one technology or policy – real or imagined – that could help make their hoped-for future a reality. While answers varied, they shared a notable restraint. Rather than proposing dramatic or speculative innovations, respondents emphasized alignment, stewardship, and long-horizon thinking.

• Policy as a foundation for long-term care. Many participants pointed to education reform, healthcare access, environmental regulation, inclusive governance, and anti-discrimination laws as essential levers.
• Technology as supportive infrastructure. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and computing were often mentioned, but typically as tools to improve decision-making, coordination, and access – rather than as transformative forces on their own.
• Education and knowledge-sharing. Several respondents described education itself as the most powerful long-term technology for sustaining humane and capable societies.

Notably, few respondents imagined a single breakthrough that would solve everything. Instead, they emphasized the need to use existing tools more wisely, guided by ethical intention and institutional care.

Closing Reflection

Taken together, the responses to IMAGINE 2036 suggest a public less interested in predicting the future than in making it livable. The emphasis falls not on speed or novelty, but on wisdom, stewardship, and the slow work of aligning systems with human values.