I saw a slogan today to “demand data and think critically.” Demands for data too often serve as a lazy substitute for …
Ten Books for Prospective Futurists, Updated
It’s time to update my list of ten books that a prospective futurist should read. The principle is the individual is …
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Scenarios start now
Sometimes those new to foresight get the impression that when we create 10-year scenarios, we are somehow just talking …
After Capitalism Drivers
Do you want to play a game? (yes, a Saw reference) While I’ve continued scanning for the After Capitalism book, a few …
Exploring the future of learning and education
I need your help in exploring the future of learning and education! Our work on the future of student needs for Lumina …
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What is a futurist?
When someone asks you what a futurist is, how do you answer? Do you answer differently each time? Maybe you vary it …
A class-y view on After Capitalism
Move aside proletariat. A precariat is emerging as a potential new class to the lead the transformation to an …
Next Economy: Is It Really Different This Time?
I finally got to Carlota Perez’s, Technological revolutions and financial capital: The dynamics of bubbles and golden …
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Trends in Foresight Methods
I came across a very nice paper posted to the APF list: Emerging Practices in Foresight and Their Use in STI Policy, by …
Indicator: “Mainstream” economist embracing uncertainty
Okay, I’m sure there are economists out there embracing or at least acknowledging uncertainty about the future. But a …
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Artificial Intelligence: It Depends
Futurists pretty regularly get asked about artificial intelligence, often along with robots, and perhaps some …
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Is better better?
What’s on my mind here is the potential perniciousness of ubiquitous feedback/performance rankings/predictive …
Adding some wow to our projects
Every now and then I like to scan the home library and see if anything I hadn’t read deserves to be promoted, or if …
Can we all get along? The key role of group norms
Getting along is pretty important in all walks of life, including it turns out, if you want to have a high-functioning …
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What is a futurist?
Last year my grad assistant Maria Romero produced a series of short videos (none more than two minutes) about the …
Mastery and Foresight Practice
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment does not quite fit in with the foresight classics I’ve been …
Dictionary of obsolescent concepts: television
Some may say that Captain Obvious has paid us a visit with this topic. Forecasting the death of television goes way …
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Values and Design Thinking
The increasing partnership between foresight and design over the last several years has nudged more and more futurists …
Dictionary of obsolescent concepts: Vacation Days
“You can only roll over x% of your vacation days, so please use them before the end of the year.” How many of us have …
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Reflecting on Past APF Gatherings
This year’s Gathering, the Learning Remix, curated by Derek Woodgate with the assistance of the fabulous Maggie, and …
The push and pull of the future
We reviewed Sohail Inayatullah’s Six Pillars in Alternative Perspectives class last night. The first pillar, mapping, …
Are we too client focused?
I have been emphasizing the need for futurists and foresight to better deliver on client needs and expectations for the …
The value of a foresight education
I recently posted some findings on the Houston Foresight blog from an alumni survey. The survey was undertaken as a …
Five Books on the Future
A recent APF listserv chat pointed out that member Andrew Curry had been profiled on Five Books -- a terrific interview …
Sharing: Keep the good, leave the hype
It’s kind of fun to reflect on the meme hype cycle -- like Gartner’s Hype Hycle but for ideas rather than technologies. …
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Futurist Roles: Letting Go, Translating, and Transforming
As a futurist, it’s always helpful to know what’s expected of you…and what you want to do. BTW, I think they deserve …
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Sudden Impact the Key to Wildcards?
One more entry in the wildcard series (for now, at least). In the last piece we raised the point about wildcards not …
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Wilcard is a relative term
A truly brilliant article title (and article) from Elina Hiltunen, “Was It a Wild Card or Just Our Blindness to Gradual …
Wildcards, surprises, and disruptions…oh my!
A couple of weeks ago in World Futures, we had a class on wildcards. Yesterday, I just had a client conversation about …
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The rise of the hybrid futurist
It seems that each Spring in ProSeminar class we eventually get to the topic of the hybrid futurist. This year it came …