For the Summer of 2023, a dozen futurists talk about what life will be like for humans in 30 to 50 years. Each guest is asked to paint a picture of the changes that we will experience between now and 2053 or 2073. Then they are asked what mistakes we are making today that the people of 2073 will look back at in disbelief. The goal of these episodes is to spark the imagination of listeners about the future we have the ability to create.
In this episode, futurist Sohail Inayatullah paints a picture of life in 2073. He describes a peer-to-peer economy moving at lightning speeds that will lead to incredible abundance. He talks about nation states giving way to bio-regions and cultural regions. He shares examples of how leaders in Abu Dhabi and New Zealand are thinking about and designing their futures. Sohail finishes the conversation with his thoughts on what we are doing today that the humans of 2073 will look back at in disbelief.
Dr. Sohail Inayatullah, a political scientist, is Professor at Tamkang University, Taipei (Graduate Institute of Futures Studies), Visiting Academic/Research Associate at Queensland University of Technology (Centre for Social Change Research); Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast (Faculty of Social Sciences and the Arts); and, Associate, Transcend Peace University. Dr. Inayatullah is a Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation and the World Academy of Art and Science. He is on the International Advisory Council of the World Future Society, and on the Professional Board of the Futures Foundation, Sydney. In 1999, he held the UNESCO Chair at the Centre for European Studies, University of Trier, Trier, Germany and the Tamkang Chair in Futures Studies at Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan. From 1981 to 1991, he was senior policy analyst and planner with the Hawaii Judiciary, where he coordinated the Court’s Foresight Program.
“What could it look like? Imagine, then, the nation state giving way. It was created in the 15th, 16th century. It gives way to bio-regions, to cultural regions, to basically an EU in Asia, six big regions united.” Dr. Sohail Inayatullah describing how government might evolve from the nation state in the next 50 to 100 years.
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