In 1922, two Columbia University researchers compiled a list of 140 inventions and discoveries where the inventors, independently of each other, without knowing about each other, in different countries or even on different continents, had made the same invention or … Continue reading Lego and How to Forecast the Future
As soon as we talk about trends in public, we can easily predict that we will hear a comment like this: “That’s just hype!” And we are immediately gnawed by doubts as to whether the person is right, whether we … Continue reading Hypes versus Trends
Imagining the future is not just a dreamy pastime. Thinking about our future, or that of our company – if done well – helps us better prepare for what may come. While business leaders often prepare and issue a ‘vision’ … Continue reading All the Futures (Yes, there is more than one)
A psychologically surprisingly powerful Foresight Mindset tool is messages from the future. For example, participants are given the task of writing a newspaper article from the future ten years from today’s date, with the headline describing the bankruptcy of their … Continue reading Messages from the Future
Foresight is not just helping companies to prepare and influence the future, it also helps making better personal choices. Julia West and Alida Draudt, two Silicon Valley-based future researchers, sit in an interview with Lisa Kay Solomon, chair of Transformational … Continue reading Interview: Designing for the Future
Palm readers, priestesses and witches have been associated with predictions and divination for millennia. While palm readers, witches, or tea brewers receive little social respect, virgin priestesses, such as in the Oracle of Delphi, were held in high esteem. Kings … Continue reading Cassandra or The Future is Female
A few years ago an Israeli co-worker commented on a political event here in the US. And he was surprised about the kind of reaction he had and the question that he asked himself. “What does this mean for Israel?” … Continue reading When Signals Make You Paranoid
The ‘Victorian Internet‘, better known as the telegraph, had at the start of 1846 an experimental 40-mile line (64 kilometer) between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. By 1850, it had grown to 12,000 miles (19,200 kilometers). In 1858 the first transatlantic … Continue reading Exponential Trends of the Past
What do the Yakuza, the Mafia, and the Sinaloa Cartel have in common? All three are not only criminal organizations with a variety of illegal business going on, but they are also astonishing resilient. A feat considering that they have … Continue reading Criminal Minds: The Ultimate Foresight Thinkers
Was haben die Yakuza, die Mafia und das Sinaloa-Kartell gemeinsam? Alle drei sind nicht nur kriminelle Organisationen, die eine Vielzahl von illegalen Geschäften betreiben, sondern auch erstaunlich widerstandsfähig. Ein Kunststück, wenn man bedenkt, dass sie die schärfsten Gegner haben, die … Continue reading Criminal Minds: Die ultimativen Denker der Voraussicht