Issue 2/Past. Present. Future.
Understanding Whole Systems
Mike is eighteen, eager to succeed in the world and make his dad proud. At this point in his life, he must make a choice: be the first in his family to go to university or start work straight away?
If he goes to university, he borrows three years of tuition and living costs before he earns a penny, and the interest starts on day one. Fees are £9,250 a year, up from £3,290 in 2010. If he goes to work, he can legally be paid £10.85 an hour, £2.60 below the real Living Wage.
A steady job, however, only plays into two decades of stagnation, with British wages roughly £15,000 a year lower than if pre-financial crisis growth had continued. A business of his own is no safer, since only 38% of new UK businesses are still trading five years on.
In both cases any cash he might be able to save lost ground when inflation hit 11.1% in October 2022.
What would you do in Michael’s shoes? Try it out for yourself with our interactive initiative: logos.co/past-present-future.
Past. Present. Future. is an initiative highlighting why a movement like Logos has never been more important.
In Past, we went to the Museum of Civil Liberties, an Arctic archive of major events that resulted in encroachment of personal freedoms (which is now taking visitor exhibit submissions). In Present, we follow three very different stories: Michael, Amanda, and a still-unrevealed character. As the player takes each character’s major decisions, three widespread symptoms of a society in rapid decline emerge.
Michael’s story is about debt and how it restricts our choices. We join as he considers whether to borrow money to go to university or go straight into employment. Amanda’s story revolves around social media harms and how her health declines as her data is used against her.
logos.co/past-present-future, read 9 October 2026.