Sylvia Gallusser talks to Akanksha Kulkarni about transhumanism, the future of the mind and how to develop a futurist mindset. Watch the entire episode on peopleHum’s Leadership video series to know more.
[Transcript]
As futurists like to quote William Gibson: The future is already here. It is just not evenly distributed. Futurists are more and more in demand in this changing world, in this changing paradigm. But you don’t need to be a professional futurist to develop this mindset.
- Futures Thinking can be practiced every day with small mental fitness to stretch your mind to envision the future. There are two fun exercises you can do, called “predict the past” and “remember the future”. Predicting the past is about remembering a fact from a long time ago and changing perspective on it (counterfactual memory). Remembering the future is about imagining a What If situation (counterfactual prospection).
- Hard empathy is a necessary skill to adopt a futurist mindset. It’s the ability to put yourself in some else’s shoes. To vary perspectives. Futures thinking is a first person exercise: what would I do if I had this role, in this future context.
- Another good exercise is called 100 Ways Anything Can Be Different. This is a powerful way to “unstick” your mind
- Then, start collecting signals of the future. Search for signals of change in your specific field, read about new research, new products, listen to voices from the field, observe behaviors around you, talk with people. You will gain valuable insights.
- Futures thinking is also collaborative work, as Marina Gorbis (IFTF) likes to remind us. Be part of communities in your field of interest to gain collective foresight.
- And finally be part of the change. The future of work is not fully here yet, you can contribute to build your preferred one. Futures thinking is really about what we call “urgent optimism” (a term coined by Jane McGonigal), it’s about engaging into action. And you can do it, starting from now.
