IFTF: Future Now

The Fleet / Car and Rider

Jun 18, 2019 By Scott Minneman

What happens when fleets of autonomous cars battle it out for the same street corner? As fleets of autonomous cars make their way into messy, crowded...

The Caregiver / The Artificial Caregiver

Jun 13, 2019 By Ben Hamamoto

What happens when your health is dependent on an upgrade you can't afford? As intelligent autonomous objects proliferate, they can be seen as...

The Ruse / The Roshki Ruse

Jun 11, 2019 By Mark Frauenfelder

What happens when products can lie to their owners? Advances in multi-material 3D printing render intricately designed objects called “roshkis” into...

The Pass / I Shouldn't Have Done It

Jun 03, 2019 By Jamais Cascio

What happens when infrastructure enforces the law? As public spaces become increasingly reconfigurable, and infrastructure becomes capable of...

Scenes From 2027

May 31, 2019 By Rod Falcon, Bradley Kreit, Jamais Cascio, Mark Frauenfelder, Eri Gentry, Ben Hamamoto, Toshi Hoo, Scott Minneman

What kind of 2027 can you imagine?

A Wearable MRI Machine

May 30, 2019 By Scott Minneman

The path to telepathy is coming indirectly, through Jepsen’s exploration of a more costeffective medical diagnosis tool: essentially an affordable...

Don't Fear The Black Box

May 21, 2019 By Matthew Hutson

In 2013, hackers installed malware onto servers belonging to the retailer Target, eventually stealing the credit and debit card information of 40...

Make It Just So

May 16, 2019 By Scott Minneman

Clea and her 8-year-old son Alex are in a coffee shop before school. It’s Alex’s birthday. While waiting for their latte and hot chocolate, they play...

In tomorrow’s ‘work-and-learn’ world, new tools must measure progress

May 07, 2019

Lumina Foundation's Holly Zanville reports on IFTF Future of Assessment convening.

Kill Decision

May 07, 2019 By Mark Frauenfelder

South Korea has robot snipers at the North Korean border that can recognize and kill a person from a mile away. They can shoot them dead in their...

Billions and Billions Transacted

Apr 30, 2019 By Max Elder

In 1994 a journalist named Josh Quittner registered the domain name mcdonalds.com. On assignment for Wired, Quittner called McDonald’s corporate...

Wetware-Hardware Hybrids

Apr 22, 2019 By Steve M. Potter

All life as we know it is made of cells that are squishy and full of salt water. That’s why animals’ control systems (networks of neurons and glial...

Homegrown Governance

Apr 17, 2019 By Kathi Vian

Around the world, governments are the least trusted institution in half of the 28 countries surveyed for the Edelman Trust Barometer. In the United...

Signaling Work and Learning Readiness in 2030: The Future of Assessment

Apr 16, 2019 By Sara Skvirsky

Re-envision the ways that learners in the future will signal their skills and competencies for...

Future-proof your strategies: Partner with IFTF

Apr 15, 2019 By Maureen Kirchner

For most organizations, global turbulence today means big challenges for tomorrow. The smartest move? Team up with the world’s top foresight experts....

Simulacra and Simulations

Apr 11, 2019 By Jamais Cascio

Imagine taking a video stream of someone—Vladimir Putin, for example, or Lady Gaga, or your spouse—and changing what they say onscreen to whatever you...

NEW Public Release: Blockchain Map + Perspectives 2017-2027

Apr 09, 2019 By Mark Frauenfelder

These foresight materials were created to quickly get you up to speed on this powerful new technology, to help you understand how blockchains are...

Designing an Ethical Operating System

Apr 05, 2019 By Ayca Guralp

How do you build something you won’t regret? It’s a question that deserves its fair share of thought, especially in Silicon Valley where countless...

Equitable Futures Week Has No Boundaries

Apr 04, 2019 By Tessa Finlev

How do we illustrate the systems of equity as clearly as we describe systems of inequity? How can we describe what it feels like to walk around in an...

Digital Twins

Apr 03, 2019 By Mark Frauenfelder

“What if” is a common question in every organization, because it’s the first step in optimizing existing processes or developing new ones. There are...