Posts tagged futuring
Life in 2073: Aging and Space Exploration with Don MacPherson

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, our usual host of the show, Don MacPherson, is interviewed by futurist Rebecca Ryan. Don paints a picture of what life might be like in 2073 with a focus on aging and the development of space tourism and a space economy. He talks about how new technologies and a move to treat aging as a disease could radically change the way we age and enable life expectancy to 90 or even 100 years with outliers reaching 120 years and beyond. Don compares the current stage of space exploration and development to the early years of flight and shares his belief that humanity’s desire to explore will push us to colonize Mars and visit other planets as our capabilities improve. Don and Rebecca finish the interview with a discussion about what the humans of 2073 will be surprised that we were doing in 2023.

Don MacPherson is CEO of 12 Geniuses and host of the 12 Geniuses podcast - a show for curious and voracious learners. Don interviews exceptional people about trends and technologies changing the way we live and work. A five-time entrepreneur, Don has spent 25 years studying the employee experience, the attributes of great leadership, and how healthy organizational cultures are created and sustained. An avid traveler and volunteer, Don has visited 75 countries and been a mentor of young people for 30 years.

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The 2053 Workplace with Futurist Jacob Morgan

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 Jacob Morgan paints a picture of life in 2053 with a focus on where technology meets the workplace. He describes a world where everyone has advanced AI personal assistants, mountains of data to help them optimize performance at work and at home, and how the metaverse might develop over the next three decades. Jacob also shares his thoughts on the future of leadership and his predictions on what workplace technologies will soon become obsolete. 

Jacob Morgan is a trained futurist and one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership, the future of work, and employee experience, He speaks in front of tens of thousands of people each year and his content is seen over a million times a year. Jacob is the best-selling author of five books: Leading With Vulnerability (Wiley 2024), The Future Leader (Wiley 2020) The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, 2017), The Future of Work (Wiley, 2014), and The Collaborative Organization (McGraw Hill, 2012). He speaks at over 50 conferences a year including TED Academy which is one of the largest TED events in the world. In addition, Jacob provides advisory and thought leadership services to various organizations around the world.

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A Life of Abundance in 2073 with Sohail Inayatullah

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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The Future of Social Media with Ross Dawson

In this episode, Don MacPherson is joined by Futurist Ross Dawson to discuss the future of social media. They explore the growth of social media over the last two decades, potential forms of regulation, and the role of social media in the coming decades. Ross provides some potential solutions for the negative effects of social media use including nonprofit networks, user ownership of data, and AI technologies for regulating harmful content.

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The Future of Healthcare with Dr. Bertalan Meskó

In this interview, Don MacPherson is joined by Dr. Bertalan Meskó. Dr. Meskó is The Medical Futurist and the Director of the Medical Futurist Institute. Don and Dr. Meskó discuss recent developments in the field of medical technology including AI, wearables, telemedicine, risks to privacy, and addiction. They also talk about four different national healthcare models as well as the futures of mental health and the addiction treatment field.

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Season Three Wrap Up

Our theme for Season Three was “The Future” and we had a remarkable group of Geniuses to help us make sense of it. The main lesson we took away is that with time and imagination, the list of impossibilities is a lot smaller than we might think. Both 2020 and this most recent season of 12 Geniuses proved that the unimaginable is definitely not impossible.

For Season Four, we will continue exploring the future and the seemingly impossible. In our first four episodes, we'll look at the future of healthcare education, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Episode One of Season Four will be available on January 12th.

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Making Sense of the Future: An Interview with Cecily Sommers

Over the last decade, technology has transformed life as we know it and innovation continues to accelerate. To help us understand how to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, we spoke with widely acclaimed futurist Cecily Sommers.

In this interview, podcast host Don MacPherson and Cecily look ahead at the forces shaping our future and identify some trends that will disrupt the way we live and work over the next decade. We touch on the impact of climate change, migration, changing birth rates, and more. We also discuss how we can be best prepared to embrace the changes to come and lean into new technology that makes us uncomfortable.

Cecily Sommers is a futurist and innovation expert. She speaks, write and consults on emerging trends, markets, and technologies shaping business and society.

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"The Future Of..." Season Three Launches February 11th!

12 Geniuses is back and celebrating the new decade with a new season. Season Three is dedicated to the theme of “The Future of…” We are dedicating all 12 episodes to interviews with geniuses who are creating the future or who can help us understand the dramatic changes the future will bring. If you want to better understand how you, your team, and your organization can be better prepared for the future, this season of the podcast is for you. The first episode of Season Three is an interview with futurist Cecily Sommers. That episode is available on February 11th. We hope you’ll subscribe and tune in!

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How a Futurist Sees the World - An Interview with Rebecca Ryan

How can you plan for your organization's future? For over two decades Rebecca Ryan has been consulting with individuals, teams, and organizations to create future plans that accommodate for our ever changing society. In this interview Rebecca shares her insights on:

Part I – Social Change in America

Who is winning economically and who is losing, the cost of being middle class, the Great Recession, the three previous “Winters” in America (The American Revolution, The Civil War and Reconstruction, and the Great Depression), social changes in America, the aging of baby boomers, the expansion of human rights, prison reform, economic development, benefit corporations (B-Corps), influential demographic changes, community planning, affordable housing, transit changes, and planning for the unexpected.

Part II – How to Predict the Future

Foresight / futuring, STEEP methodology (Society, Technology, Environment, Economy Politics), Four Forces (Resources, Technology, Demographics, Politics), crowdsourcing, advice for staying relevant in the future, future trends, how to be future ready, city planning, youth as agents of change for our future, diversifying your information sources, and the importance of delivering on America’s promise.  

Organizations, people, and resources mentioned: “Re-Generation: A Manifesto for America’s Next Leaders,” “The Next Big Things” by Rebecca Ryan, Patagonia, Tom’s Shoes, Danone, WARBY PARKER, Futurist Camp, STEEP Methodology, Four Forces (Cecily Sommers), “Think Like a A Futurist: Know What Changes, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next,” www.rebeccaryan.com 

“Change happens from the margins…it works its way into the mainstream. So if you want to be future ready, you need to pay attention to things that people are just now starting to talk about.”

Rebecca Ryan on the importance of empathy building and diversifying your information sources for futuring.

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