Appendix 3. Resources – Media and Tools for Better Futures

Strategic Foresight Magazines

The following thirty titles are particularly commendable global and organizational foresight periodicals, across a variety of sectors and specialties. We’ve focused this list on strategic foresight with business and institutional applications. We’ve also mixed in some magazines on functional foresight topics. To improve acceleration awareness, there is also a slight emphasis on technology foresight in the magazines.

The Economist is presently the best general and global foresight weekly on the planet by a good margin, in my opinion. The Economist’s politics are generally socially liberal, fiscally conservative, and they are very evidence-based in their reporting. Consider a trial subscription, and give it just two hours, one evening a week, to skim all the punny headlines, then read and socially share (Twitter, FB, whatever) your favorite article or two, and you’ll become a better skimmer, reader, thinker, speaker, and writer. They also offer an audio version of their print magazine (free with subscription), great for commutes, exercise, and multitasking, roughly 8-9 hours per issue, chaptered so you can skip to your topic of interest.

The Economist’s annual The World in 20XX, produced every November since 1986, is an excellent special issue that forecasts the coming year. They also review their previous year’s forecasts in each new issue, holding themselves accountable to past forecasts. Starting in 2015, every July, they began publishing a companion supplement, The World If, a collection of well-written scenarios, what could happen in the future, given certain assumptions. These scenarios are a nice mix of both protopian (eg, AI-produced laws) and dystopian (eg., Trump getting elected) futures.

In their Leaders section at the front, they offer great one-page summaries of their best articles. For examples, see this great one-page article (registration required to view) on the future of artificial intelligence. Or this one-page article on top strategies to improve our schools. Their Technology Quarterly offers an excellent quarterly update on emerging technology. Their quarterlies and special issues are produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit a consulting branch of The Economist Group that does forecasting, modeling, benchmarking, risk analysis, and scenario analysis. Their online Market Explorer platform does market sizing, scanning, and forecasting in over 140 countries and 1,000 cities.

Today, in the final years of unintelligent machines, politicians have little freedom to bring about many of the most-needed strategies that The Economist’s foresighters propose. But in a coming world where our smart agents advise us in how to vote, and how to legislate to protect our interests, our politics will become increasingly evidence-based. Average voters, via their agents, will gain powerful new abilities to move previously deadlocked sociopolitical systems. Political discourse will become more intelligent than it ever has, and that intelligence will grow exponentially over time. Many positive (and some negative) sociopolitical changes will happen in that world, and I think we can expect a sim-enhanced world beginning in the mid to late 2020s, as smart agents and their abilities continue to exponentially improve.

We are in for interesting times!

Recommended top strategic foresight magazines, in alpha order:

  1. Bloomberg BusinessWeek (Bloomberg)
  2. Business Ethics (Business Ethics)
  3. Chief Learning Officer (CLO Media)
  4. CIO (Chief Information Officer) (IDG)
  5. Competitive Intelligence (SCIP)
  6. Contingencies (AAA)
  7. Forbes (Forbes)
  8. Harvard Business Review (Harvard U)
  9. IEEE Spectrum (IEEE)
  10. Inc (Mansueto)
  11. Information Week (UBM Tech)
  12. KM World (Information Today)
  13. McKinsey Quarterly (McKinsey)
  14. New Scientist (Reed)
  15. OR/MS Today (INFORMS)
  16. Planning (APA)
  17. Popular Science (Bonnier). Since 1872.
  18. Prospect (Prospect)
  19. Research Technology Management (IRI)
  20. Risk Management (RIMS)
  21. Science News (SS&P)
  22. Scientific American (Nature) Since 1845. Greatly dumbed down in recent years.
  23. Strategy + Business (BoozAllen)
  24. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management (Taylor & Francis)
  25. Technology Review (MIT)
  26. The Atlantic (Hayley Romer) Since 1857.
  27. The Economist (Economist). Since 1843. Best single foresight weekly today.
  28. The Futurist (WFS) [1967 – 2015. Sad to see it go. Partial archive available online.]
  29. The Globalist (Globalist)
  30. Wallpaper (IPC Media)
  31. Wired (Conde Nast)

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Table of Contents

guideintrobookwhite

Chapter 2. Personal Foresight – Becoming an Effective Self-Leader

Chapter 2: Personal Foresight

Becoming an Effective Self-Leader

Chapter 4. Models – Foundations for Organizational Foresight

Chapter 4: Models

Foundations for Organizational Foresight

Chapter 7. Acceleration – Guiding Our Extraordinary Future

Chapter 7: Acceleration

Guiding Our Extraordinary Future (In Process)

II. Global Progress: 5 Goals, 10 Values, Many Trends

Innovation: Our Abundant Future
Intelligence: Our Augmented Future
Interdependence: Our Civil Future
Immunity: Our Protected Future
Sustainability: Our Rebalanced Future

III. Universal Accelerating Change

Great Race to Inner Space: Our Surprising Future
Entropy&Information: We’re Running Down & Up
The Puzzle of Meaning: We Have No Einstein Yet
Trees, Funnels & Landscapes: Intro to Evo Devo
Big Picture Change: Five Scales of Accelerating ED
Transcension Hypothesis: Where Acceleratn Ends?
IDABDAK: Social Response to Accel & Developmnt
We’re On a Runaway Train: Being Accelaware

IV. Evo Devo and Exponential Foresight

Seeing It All: Accel., Diverg, Adapt, Convrg, Decel.
Natural (I4S) Innovation: The Evolutionary Drive
Natural (I4S) Intelligence: The Human-AI Partnership
Natural (I4S) Morality: Why Empathy and Ethics Rule
Natural (I4S) Security: Strength from Disruption
Natural (I4S) Sustainability: The Developmental Drive
S-Curves: Managing the Four Constituencies
Pain to Gain: Traversing the Three Kuznets Phases
Hype to Reality: Beyond Hype Cycles to Reality Checks
Exponentials Database: Measuring Accelerations
TINA Trends: Societal Evolutionary Development
Managing Change: STEEPCOP Events, Probs, Ideas
A Great Shift: A Survival to a Sentient Economy

V. Evo Devo and Exponential Activism

Building Protopias: Five Goals of Social Progress
Normative Foresight: Ten Values of Society
Top & STEEPCOP Acceleratns: Positive & Negative
Dystopias, Risks, and Failure States
Three Levels of Activism: People, Tech & Universe
A Great Opportunity: Exponential Empowerment

 

Chapter 8. Your Digital Self – The Human Face of the Coming Singularity

Chapter 8: Your Digital Self

The Human Face of the Coming Singularity (In Process)

I. Your Personal AI (PAI): Your Digital Self

Digital Society: Data, Mediation, and Agents
Personal AIs: Advancing the Five Goals
PAI Innovation: Abundance and Diversity
PAI Intelligence: Bio-Inspired AI
PAI Morality: Selection and Groupnets
PAI Security: Safe Learning Agents
PAI Sustainability: Science and Balance
The Human Face of the Coming Singularity

II. PAI Protopias & Dystopias in 8 Domains

1. Personal Agents: News, Ent., Education
2. Social Agents: Relat. and Social Justice
3. Political Agents :  Activism & Represent.
4. Economic Agents:  Retail, Finance, Entrep
5. Builder Agents :  Work, Innov. & Science
6. Environ. Agents : Pop. and Sustainability
7. Health Agents :  Health, Wellness, Death
8. Security Agents :  Def., Crime, Corrections

III. PAI Activism & Exponential Empowerment

Next Government: PAIs, Groupnets, Democ.
Next Economy: Creat. Destr. & Basic Income
Next Society: PAI Ent., Mortality & Uploading
What Will Your PAI Contribution Be?

Chapter 10. Startup Ideas – Great Product & Service Challenges for Entrepreneurs

Chapter 10: Startup Ideas

Great Product and Service Challenges for Entrepreneurs (In Process)

I. 4U’s Idea Hub: Building Better Futures

Air Deliveries and Air Taxis: Finally Solving Urban Gridlock
Ballistic Shields and Gun Control: Protecting Us All from Lone Shooters
Bioinspiration Wiki: Biomimetics and Bio-Inspired Design
Brain Preservation Services: Memory and Mortality Redefined
Carcams: Document Thieves, Bad Driving, and Bad Behavior
Competition in Govt Services: Less Corruption, More Innovation
Computer Adaptive Education (CAE): Better Learning and Training
Conversational Deep Learning Devsuites: Millions of AI Coders
Digital Tables: Telepresence, Games, Entertainment & Education
Dynaships: Sustainable Low-Speed Cargo Shipping
Electromagnetic Suspension: Nausea-Free Working & Reading in Cars
Epigenetic Health Tests: Cellular Aging, Bad Diet, Body Abuse Feedback
Fireline Explosives and Ember Drones: Next-Gen Fire Control
Global English: Empowering the Next Generation of Global Youth
Greenbots: Drone Seeders and Robotic Waterers for Mass Regreening
High-Density Housing and Zoning: Making Our Cities Affordable Again
Highway Enclosures and Trail Networks: Green and Quiet Urban Space
Inflatable Packaging: Faster and Greener Shipping and Returns
Internet of Families: Connecting People Over Things
Kidcams: Next-Gen Security for Child Safety and Empowerment
Kidpods: Indoor & Outdoor Parent-Assistive Toyboxes
Microdesalination: Democratizing Sustainable Fresh Water Production
Noise Monitors: Documenting and Reducing Noise Pollution
Oceanside Baths: Sustainable Year Round Beach Enjoyment
Open Blood Scanners: DIY Citizen Health Care Sensor Tech
Open Streaming Radio: User-Centered Audio Creation and Rating
Open Streaming Video: User-Centered Video Creation and Rating
Open Values Filters: Social Rankers, Arg. Mappers, and Consensus Finders
Personal AIs: Your Private Advisor, Activist, and Interface to the World
Pet Empowerment: Next-Gen Rights and Abilities for Our Domestic Animals
Safe Closets: Fire-, Earthquake-, and Intruder-Proof Retreat Spaces
Safe Cars: Reducing Our Insane 1.3M Annual Auto Deaths Today
Safe Motorcycles: Lane Splitting in Gridlock Without Risk of Death
Shared Value Insurance: User-Centered Risk Reduction Services
Sleeperbuses and Microhotels: Demonetized Intercity Travel
Space-Based Solar Power: Stratellite Powering and Weather Management
Stratellites: Next-Gen Urban Broadband, Transparency, and Security
Touch DNA: Next-Gen Home Security and Crime Deterrence
View Towers: Improving Urban Walkability, Inspiration, and Community

Chapter 11. Evo Devo Foresight – Unpredictable and Predictable Futures

Chapter 11: Evo Devo Foresight

Unpredictable and Predictable Futures

Appendix 1. Peer Advice – Building a Successful Foresight Practice