EP 241: SuperShifts - Steve Fisher

Think from the Future showcases speculative design and experiential foresight projects that make future scenarios tangible through artifacts, performances, and prototypes. Stuart Candy and Jake Dunagan emphasize storytelling and sensory engagement as tools to help people understand and emotionally connect with possible futures. The work demonstrates how experiential methods can complement analytical foresight to influence decision-making and public imagination. By translating scenarios into lived experiences, it helps audiences 'feel' the implications of change and better evaluate choices. The book has been influential among design futurists and practitioners seeking to broaden how futures are communicated.

This book, released in conjunction with the film of the same name, presents a comprehensive look at global warming. It combines leading-edge research, photographs, charts, and personal anecdotes to document the rapid and widespread impacts of global warming. Gore explains the causes and effects of global warming in clear terms, highlighting the urgent need for action to mitigate its detrimental consequences. The book is designed to be accessible and educational, using easy-to-grasp graphics and revealing before-and-after photos to illustrate the climate crisis.

Ja-Naé Duane and Steven Fisher's 'The Startup Equation' guides both startups and multinational firms in identifying new business models and pathways for global scale. As their first book, the experience brought many learnings to improve their process. 'The Startup Equation' shares insight into building new innovative business models for the future. This allows readers to learn more about how exponential innovation can occur to scale their business. It explores how companies can thrive through identifying what makes them unique in their industries.

The book, commissioned by the Club of Rome, uses the World3 computer model to simulate the consequences of interactions between human systems and the Earth. It examines five basic factors: population increase, agricultural production, nonrenewable resource depletion, industrial output, and pollution generation. The authors conclude that if current growth trends continue, the Earth's resources will be depleted, leading to a sudden and uncontrollable decline in population and industrial capacity. However, the book also offers a message of hope, suggesting that forward-looking policy could prevent such outcomes if humanity acts promptly to reduce inefficiency and waste.

Published in 1970, 'Future Shock' by Alvin Toffler and his wife Adelaide Farrell examines the profound effects of rapid industrial and technological changes on individuals, families, and society. The book defines 'future shock' as a state of disorientation and confusion resulting from the overwhelming pace of change. Toffler argues that this rapid change leads to psychological ailments such as anxiety, hostility, and depression, and erodes traditional social structures like families and communities. He identifies three main forces driving future shock: transience, novelty, and diversity. The book also discusses the need for resilience and adaptive strategies to cope with these changes and suggests that societal institutions must evolve to support individuals in managing the 'adaptive range' required to deal with the accelerating pace of life.

The Third Wave describes the transition in developed countries from the Industrial Age society (the 'Second Wave') to the Information Age society (the 'Third Wave'). The book covers broad topics such as technology, politics, gender roles, and the new definitions of work, play, love, and success. It also projects new forms of twenty-first-century democracy and social changes necessary for survival in a rapidly changing world.

The Foundation series, written by Isaac Asimov, is a seminal work of science fiction that spans over 550 years. It begins with the decline of the Galactic Empire, which has ruled for 12,000 years. Mathematician Hari Seldon develops the science of psychohistory, predicting the empire's fall and a subsequent 30,000-year dark age. To mitigate this, Seldon establishes the Foundation, a group of scientists and scholars on the planet Terminus, to compile and preserve human knowledge in the Encyclopedia Galactica. The series follows the Foundation's journey through various challenges and adaptations over millennia, exploring themes of governance, warfare, and science. The series was initially published as short stories and novellas between 1942 and 1950, later compiled into novels, and expanded upon in subsequent books.