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Apr, 2024
I’m usually not very timely here in terms of commenting on hot-off-the-press type of events, but I’m going to do it today! Canadian futurist Ruben Nelson shared a piece from the Cascade Institute called “Introduction to Polycrisis Analysis.” I have not reviewed it yet in the appropriate detail it deserves, but my initial reaction is […]
Apr, 2024
Last week we talked about some typical resistances to information about change we see on the client or public side. Lest we get arrogant and focus on “them” being at fault, let’s take a look at some problems from the futurist side. UH Foresight alum Mary Jane Naquin reminded me of a wonderful piece that […]
Apr, 2024
Last night we had a class in World Futures on wildcards in which we reviewed Oliver Markley’s wonderful piece that includes sources of resistance to information about wildcards. As I reviewed this list, I couldn’t help but think that these sources of resistance seem pretty applicable as sources of resistance to information about change in […]
Apr, 2024
I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately to “help us stretch our scanning.” It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while. In Spring 2018, we dedicated our annual Spring Gathering to “scanning the fringe.” We started playing with the idea of snowball scanning a few years ago. “Snowball Scanning?” I owe the thought […]
Mar, 2024
The way we work ain’t workin’, right? So far workforce resistance has been mostly passive. But what if it turns active … thus stinkbombing. Let’s do a quick review. Great Resignation Quiet Quitting Lazy Girl Jobs Lying Flat I think workers are trying to tell us something, namely, the current approach to work is not […]
Mar, 2024
… are we willing to make? Sacrifice seems to be a concept that is out of fashion. Aren’t things tough enough already … and you’re asking for more? For those struggling, it’s about just getting enough. Or for some it is simply about getting mines (sic) rather than sacrificing for the larger community. The After […]
Mar, 2024
The opposition to the idea of post-work has lightened. It generates fewer snorts and eyerolls. I can sneak it into classes, talks and workshops and maintain credibility. As the implausibility argument loses some of its edge, the main objection is a variation on the lazy theme, i.e., humans are ill-equipped to handle free time and […]
Feb, 2024
Is there a new role emerging for futurists? For many years, I’ve used the slide depicted in the figure to suggest potential positionings for an organizational futurist: The public voice has been the rarest, but there have been a handful, with Intel, Google, and Ford coming to mind. The stealth role was much more common […]
Feb, 2024
The Open Foresight Hub is an exciting new development for all we futures information hounds. It’s a wiki devoted to organizing and sharing foresight knowledge. The hub is organized into three spokes: I would point you in particular to a page on global drivers. A team from Houston Foresight did the research for this massive […]
Feb, 2024
The last in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is the Ineffective Left. The far left continues to be ineffective in catalyzing change. The left, particularly the far left, is more inclined to support the changes needed to move to After Capitalism than the right, but it has been […]
Feb, 2024
The sixth in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is climate change and carrying capacity. Climate change and humanity’s growing ecological footprint are threatening the ecosystem. Global climate change is accelerating and starting to have noticeable effects. Humanity’s growing ecological footprint, which contributes to climate change, is also influencing […]
Feb, 2024
The fifth in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is technology acceleration Economic growth is slowing in part due to inability to pay. The simple version of stagnation is a vicious circle (see figure): lack of jobs > lack of money > lack of purchases > lack of growth […]
Jan, 2024
The fourth in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is technology acceleration. Automation could drive towards After Capitalism from two distinctly different paths. Automation is defined here as the use of various technologies for operating equipment or for performing tasks, physical or digital, with minimal or reduced human intervention. […]
Jan, 2024
The third in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is technology acceleration. Growing economic inequality is threatening the social order. Inequality has long been an issue, but awareness of it has been growing and it is becoming increasingly intolerable. I previously shared how Piketty’s popular Capital in 2014 makes […]
Jan, 2024
The second in our series of seven key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism is technology acceleration. Technological capabilities continue to increase rapidly, often exponentially, in a wide range of sectors. In short, technology will save us. Lest ye skeptics are about to click away, hang in there. It is plausible! Proponents have a […]
Jan, 2024
Back in November, we did a ranking of the key drivers influencing the move to After Capitalism. We start with the top vote-getter, Shifting Values, which is described as: Values are shifting from traditional (follow the rules) and modern (achieve) to postmodern (search for meaning) and integral (make a difference). Almost unnoticed by most –but […]
Dec, 2023
is just the beginning according to former Stratfor analyst Peter Ziehan in his “Mapping the Collapse of Globalization.” It’s been a challenge to convey my reaction to this book. On the one hand, I had some negative reactions. On the other hand, I did end up reading the whole thing, and it has made me […]
Dec, 2023
A new Imagining After Capitalism article is out in the Journal of Futures Studies (JOFS). It is the [plant-based] meatiest piece I’ve put out so far, clocking in at over 6,000 words. It talks about how I tailored our Framework Foresight approach to fit the particular task of searching for and analyzing ideas images about […]
Dec, 2023
Robin Hahnel provides us with a wonderful and useful handbook on the Participatory Economy that “demonstrates concretely how to reconcile comprehensive democratic planning with worker and consumer autonomy.” I found it incredibly useful to see a detailed approach to how this post-capitalist approach might work. I did not necessarily agree with everything, but it is […]
Dec, 2023
It doesn’t take long into a session of what foresight needs before we get to awareness and credibility. It’s been the case as long as I remember in my direct experience going back to 1988 and I read about it being the case before then. So, we’re still at it. Are we making any progress? […]
Nov, 2023
I teased the global question a few years ago. I reframed the work to be more globally representative. But I might be accused — or I am accusing myself, of avoiding the big global question: namely, can After Capitalism happen in one place or does it have to be global to be successful? In my […]
Nov, 2023
There are differing views on how to run an economy. I think most of us here see an After Capitalism future. But we’re not the mainstream. Here, my friends, is the [dying?] mainstream: “OpenAI chased purpose without profit.” The piece criticizes OpenAI for pursuing purpose without profit. It reminds us that in capitalism, it should […]
Nov, 2023
A few years ago, readers helped me select the final After Capitalism drivers. I’m [finally] finishing up addressing the publisher’s feedback and getting closer to the finish line. I thought now would be a good time to not only share the final list, but begin a series where I explore a different one in a […]
Nov, 2023
Last week I briefly mentioned that the University of Houston Foresight program was awarded the first accreditation for a Master’s program in Foresight at the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) 50th anniversary conference. The WFSF has been developing an accreditation service program for the last few years and launched it a year ago. I have been a member […]
Nov, 2023
I was fortunate to spend last week with my University of Houston Foresight friends in Paris at the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) 50th anniversary conference. The main event for us was being awarded the world’s first accreditation of a Foresight graduate program. This is a very important milestone for the development of our field. We are slowly but […]
Oct, 2023
You might recall a post about “it’s okay to think big.” I need to backtrack and get back to the basics of the state of thinking in general. For context, thinking is super-vital in our U of Houston Master’s program and “better thinking” is the #1 benefit our alums cited in a recent survey. What […]
Oct, 2023
I’m about to rack up some frequent flyer miles carrying the foresight message. I have been cutting back on speaking the last few years, but nonetheless find a bit of a world tour coming up. The World Futures Studies Federation 50th Anniversary Conference , Paris, October 25-26. A key reason for going to this […]
Oct, 2023
I’m pleased that “A Technique for Guiding Images: Imagining the Future After Capitalism” has been accepted for publication in the conference volume from the 2022 Knowledge and Space Symposium on “Placing the Future” in Heidelberg, Germany. In particular I focused on the methodological aspects of creating the After Capitalism guiding images. When I took […]
Oct, 2023
There are many possible answers to this question, and I think in a healthy foresight ecosystem there can and should be many variations. We at Houston Foresight think of our niche in the foresight ecosystem broadly as “introducing people and organizations to the future.” We recently went through a 10-year program review, a global accreditation […]
Sep, 2023
How do you collect and organize your horizon scanning? At Houston Foresight, we have some particular needs (see the graphic). We teach Horizon scanning in a variety of settings (most virtual, but also some face-to-face) to a variety of people and organizations. One particular need is that we like to demo the creation of a […]