My wife and I stood with new and old friends on a deck overlooking Texas Hill Country just outside of Fredericksburg on April 8, 2024. For nearly five minutes, as we basked in the surreal twilight of totality, I was immersed in what Neil deGrasse Tyson describes as the “cosmic perspective”—an overwhelming sense of our place within the vastness of the universe. This brief but profound experience encapsulated the essence of what Tyson articulates in his book Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization. In it, Tyson invites us to view our existence through a galactic lens, encouraging a broadened understanding that juxtaposes our daily lives against the infinite expanses of space and time. He writes about the seminal photo of planet Earth rising over the lunar landscape, taken from Apollo 8 in 1968, as the origin of this perspective for millions of people. “In that first of nine such missions, our goal was to explore the moon,” writes Tyson, “but while doing so, we looked back over our shoulders and discovered Earth for the first time.” It’s this image, he argues, that first affords Earth’s inhabitants a cosmic perspective—a perspective that deepened our appreciation of the cosmos and, perhaps more importantly, enhanced our comprehension of the forces shaping our civilization.

Building on this expansive viewpoint in Starry Messenger, Tyson delves into the dynamic and exponential rate of technological development. He contrasts the contemplative revelations brought forth by the earthrise image with the relentless pace at which technology advances, reshaping our understanding of time and progress. As I curated the education program for our upcoming Tilt-Up Future Think event in Chicago, I came across this quote in Starry Messenger, which challenges the very idea of future thinking: “The river of discoveries in the natural world grows exponentially, fed by emergent tributaries of insight and knowledge, guaranteeing to embarrass any futurist.”

For three iterations, Tilt-Up Future Think has explored nascent ideas and technologies that seemingly sit on the frontier of practical application. These gatherings have been dedicated to discussing visionary technologies that, while not yet ready for immediate real-world use, hold the potential to shape our future. The event has consistently served as a platform for examining these emerging concepts and technologies still in their infancy, fostering a space where the bounds of current applications are questioned and expanded.

We set up this year’s version as a departure from distant speculations, focusing instead on issues pivotal to the everyday business of tilt-up construction. It turns out that those distant speculations and our approaching future may be one and the same.

We are at a juncture where the future isn’t a distant reality but one that knocks on our doors with new tools, materials, regulations, and best practices that will revolutionize our industry. This edition of Tilt-Up Future Think will ground us in transformative changes expected to unfold in the coming years, providing practical insights into the evolving landscape of tilt-up construction and how imminent advancements will redefine our work and the environments we build. As we stand at this threshold of tomorrow, let us embrace the pace of change and prepare to adapt, innovate, and lead in our field.