CEO Futures Briefing: futurist.com, from 1993 to 2022 and beyond - Futurist.com

Insights · April 29th, 2022

In this occasional newsletter Nikolas Badminton curates a list of insights and learnings for progressive executives, world leaders and foresight practitioners – CEO Futures Briefing: futurist.com, From 1993 to 2022 and beyond.

This week we look at Nikolas relaunching futurist.com and the Futurist Think Tank. We also dive into articles that look at how Covid changed medicine for the future, Wind turbines breathing new life into our warming seas, Centipedes inspiring a new generation of robots, JPMorgan betting on the metaverse, and more.

Also featured is an insightful interview on the Exponential Minds Podcast with Richard Yonck.

To receive this, and other important insights into the future, then please sign up to Nikolas’ newsletter here.

If you have questions about these things we’re sharing, or a challenge with seeing the futures for you and your organization? Reach out to speak with Nikolas today to arrange a time to talk.

Futurist.com, from 1993 to 2022 and beyond

In early-2021 Nikolas Badminton acquired futurist.com from Glen Hiemstra and we’re excited to share the new website, brand, Futurist Think Tank and so much more. We’re always looking to work with incredible event organizers, agencies, governments and organizations so reach out for a chat today.

You can learn more about the history of futurist.com here.

Five articles to read

How Covid changed medicine for the future

The Covid pandemic sparked an unprecedented drive to control a lethal disease whose outbreak led to a near global shutdown to contain its spread. Billions in public and private money were pumped into research like never before in such a short space of time. It’s not something the medical world would have chosen, but the developments of the past two years could not have happened without Covid-19 – the pathogen has served as a giant catalyst ushering in different technologies, data and research that offer insights into other diseases.

The lessons that have been learned – and the new norms that have solidified – will change medical science forever. The world now sits on the verge of a number of potentially significant breakthroughs, mostly thanks to the growing research into hi-tech vaccines, which could benefit patients with cancer and a whole raft of infectious diseases. Meanwhile, new studies into long Covid could shine a light into blood clotting, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and other conditions associated with the stubborn virus. Obesity and vitamin levels are under the microscope; while digitisation and increased cross-border collaboration could soon reap rewards.

Wind turbines can breathe new life into our warming seas

According to our new research, one byproduct of deep-sea wind farming is that the foundations of these floating turbines could help reverse the damaging effects of climate change on such seas.

In seasonally stratified seas, the water is completely mixed during winter, but separates into layers in the spring with warm sunlit water forming over the top of colder water below. The formation of this “stratification” during spring triggers a massive explosion of marine life as phytoplankton (microscopic algae) blooms in the warm surface waters, forming the base of a food chain which ultimately supports fish, seabirds and whales.

Centipedes, the ‘envy of engineers,’ inspire a new generation of robots

One of the creepiest encounters I’ve ever had came 25 years ago, when I moved into my first house. Turning on the bathroom light early one morning, a gigantic centipede—with its blur of legs—ran up and over my foot without breaking stride. Now, even the sight of one sends shivers up my spine. Not so for Daniel Goldman, a biological physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) whose lab has just worked out how these invertebrates are so adept at scampering across feet, sand, soil, rocks—and even water. What’s more, he and his colleagues reported last month at the virtual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology that they have created a centipede robot that might one day scutter through farmers’ fields to take out troublesome weeds.

In Search of an Algorithm for Well-Being

UNESCO recently established a recommendation plan to make AI algorithms human-centered. “We need international and national policies and regulatory frameworks to ensure that these emerging technologies benefit humanity as a whole. We need a human-centred AI. AI must be for the greater interest of the people, not the other way around.” One critical feature they highlight is that AI has been for too long in a “no law zone”:

“AI is already in our lives, directing our choices, often in ways which can be harmful. There are some legislative vacuums around the industry which needs to be filled fast. The first step is to agree on exactly which values need to be enshrined, and which rules need to be enforced. Many frameworks and guidelines exist, but they are implemented unevenly, and none are truly global. AI is global, which is why we need a global instrument to regulate it.”

JPMorgan bets metaverse is a $1 trillion yearly opportunity as it becomes first bank to open in virtual world

And JPMorgan is bullish: The bank predicts that the metaverse will become a $1 trillion market opportunity in yearly revenues, given that its virtual worlds will “infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years,” says the report.

Three videos to watch

FACING OUR FUTURES – a call-to-action

Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist of the Futurist Think Tank at futurist.com and worked with storyteller and animator Josh Ingelby to create this impactful vision of the challenges of our world in 2022 and beyond – FACING OUR FUTURES

Civilization is gaining pace, yet it feels we are becoming less civilized

We celebrate our progress, yet we are caught in a failing Industrial Complex

Our world is strained by unsustainable practices inherited from the last 300 years of capitalism, greed, and conflict.

And, while we should be collectively looking for solutions to avoid collapse, we’re distracted by luxury, convenience, game play and media noise.

We have forgotten that our actions today resonate through the annals of time.

And, we must reconnect with our dreams, our people, our planet, and our futures.

I believe our hope, unity, and our joint resolve will disrupt the noise of the industrial complex

I believe we can set the right course for the next thousand years and beyond.

And, we start that journey today…

Glen Hiemstra, Futurist Emeritus – Looking Back to Look Forward (Interview)

On April 6, 2022 Seattle City Club held the Civic Cocktail event: Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflecting on Seattle’s Evolution. In the second half of that event they interviewed futurist.com’s Founder and Futurist Emeritus Glen Hiemstra on our futures.

I Spent 100 Days in the Metaverse

A wild experiment into our hyperconnected futures.

A conversation that counts

Each week we dig into the archives of all of the interviews Nikolas has undertaken with the insightful and entertaining Exponential Minds Podcast. This week we feature a chat with Futurist Think Tank member Richard Yonck who talks with Nikolas about deep futures and Homo Technologicus – a very smart guy with great insights and breadth of knowledge.

The last word…

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
Carl Jung

About Nikolas Badminton

Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist at futurist.com and a world-renowned futurist speaker, consultant, researcher, and media producer. He helps trillion-dollar companies, progressive governments and the media shift their mindset from “what is” to “WHAT IF…” The result is empowered employees, new innovative products and incredible growth that leads to more revenues and a more resilient future.

Nikolas advised Robert Downey Jr.’s team for the ‘Age of A.I.’ documentary series, starred in ‘SMART DRUGS – a Futurist’s journey into biohacking’, and features on CTV, Global News, Sirius XM regularly. His mind-expanding research and opinion can be found on BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Sputnik and Venturebeat.

Nikolas provides the opening chapter – ‘Start with Dystopia’ in a new book – ‘The Future Starts Now: Expert Insights into the Future of Business, Technology and Society’ on Bloomsbury. His new book ‘Facing Our Futures’ is due out in 2022 on Bloomsbury and equips executives and world leaders with insights and foresight tools to imagine disruption, strengthen strategic planning, and see unforeseen risks.Nikolas is a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – The RSA. The organization has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years with notable past fellows including Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, and Tim Berners-Lee.