By Kristina Dryža The psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology C. G. Jung explained, “All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes.”[1] Archetypes are said to be psychic power patterns dwelling in the deeper layers of the unconscious. According to Jung, the collective unconscious is part of the unconscious mind, incorporating patterns of memories, instincts, and experiences common to humankind.[2] The collective unconscious doesn’t exist in a geographical space, or in a part of the brain, or in a research report. Rather, it exists in the field of our connected humanity, which we may access through the…
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By Sohail Inayatullah and Peter Black Our colleague Louis Zheng from the Shanghai FuturistCircle suggested that no one had predicted COVID-19 Coronavirus. “Is it a black swan?” he asked.[1] Our response was that this is not a black swan, as a black swan event is defined as being unpredictable, a total surprise. The reason this coronavirus is not a black swan is that the emergence of another coronavirus was predicted by many working in the emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) field. Indeed, we argue that we need to be getting ready for the next “Corona”. The predictability is on a number…
By Fayaz Ahmed and Sohail Inayatullah Fayaz Ahmed: First of all, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. I was born in Pakistan and have lived in Bloomington, Indiana; Flushing, New York; Geneva, Switzerland; Kuala Lumpur; Malaysia; Honolulu, Hawaii; and, Mooloolaba, Australia. I live in Brisbane, Australia. I did my doctorate from the University of Hawaii, Department of Political Science. I focused on the South Asian Philosopher, Shrii P.R. Sarkar. I examined his theory of history and vision of the future. I compared and contrasted his spiral theory of history with other macrohistorians such as Ibn…
by Edward Niedbalski and Q A Zheng Building on groupwork at Professor Sohail Inayatullah’s Sep ’19 Bangkok workshop, we use Futures Triangle methodology to make the case and envision the future potential for highly self-sufficient urban food systems. At Prof Sohail Inayatullah’s seminar, “Futures Thinking and Strategy Transformation”, conducted in Bangkok in September 2019, there was high interest among delegates in the future of food security, particularly as pertaining to Urban Food Systems. The Asia-Pacific Foresight Network conference earlier that week had already seen much discussion and focus on the future of global and regional food systems and the many…
By Sohail Inayatullah e Jaqueline Weigel O MÉTODO CLA INTEGRADO EM CENÁRIOS Um dos participantes baixou o tom de voz e disse: “Tenho vergonha de admitir, mas meu filho está envolvido no tráfico de hambúrgueres”. Essa foi a linha da apresentação do grupo “Alimentos saudáveis” no debate sobre os futuros dos alimentos em 2030. Durante o workshop de Futures Thinking e Método CLA no Rio de Janeiro, quatro grupos apresentaram suas descobertas. Eles usaram o método de cenários integrados desenvolvido por Inayatullah. Nessa abordagem, são desenvolvidos quatro cenários: o preferido, o renegado, o integrado e o outlier. O grupo do…
By Sohail Inayatullah and Jaqueline Weigel THE CLA METHOD INTEGRATED INTO SCENARIOS One of the participants lowered this voice, and said: “I am ashamed to admit it, but my son is involved with hamburger dealing”. This was the punch line of the “Healthy organic food” group’s presentation on the Futures of Food 2030. During the Futures Thinking and CLA Method workshop at Rio de Janeiro, four groups presented their findings. They used the Integrated scenario method developed by Inayatullah. In this approach, four scenarios are developed: the preferred, the disowned, the integrated and the outlier. The preferred group conceived of…
By Ivana Milojević Lyn and Pam (names have been changed) are co-workers in an Australian organisation. They are in the middle of a conflict that has been brought to their director’s attention. The director is not sure whether to engage with this conflict, as it appears rather trivial. Like most people do when it comes to conflicts, the director is hoping that the quarrel will dissipate and disappear on its own. Also like most people, she habitually uses a style of conflict resolution that she learned in her family of origin; she applies it to all conflicts, regardless of the…
By Sayasat Nurbek and Yerbol Moldakassimov Introduction (problematics) The labor market in Kazakhstan, like anywhere in the world, suffers from the evergreen issue of mismatch between the supply, quality of skills and de-facto demands of the workplace. Apart from objective, systemic reasons, like the quality of education and its alignment to the expectations of employers, one subjective factor is particularly critical. It is about the ill-informed or wrongly motivated choice of future profession by high-school students and their parents that ultimately bring them into the tricky situation to get trained for over-supplied and low-demanded professions in the local labor market…
Special Symposium for the Journal of Futures Studies The possible Futures of China are crucial to the futures of the world. Currently the second-largest economy in the world, China is soon likely to pass the USA as the world’s biggest financial hub. It is logical to assume that its growing influence will continue to expand beyond the economic and political into multiple fields and domains. Already the People’s Republic is making a notable impact in regard to education and research; AI; space flight; quantum communications; bio-technologies, renewable energies and environmental protection; and much more. There are other areas of influence…
By Umar Sheraz At the 2019 meeting of the Asia Pacific Futures Network, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Susann Roth, Principal Knowledge Sharing and Services Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Below are some key insights. Umar: New policies are often thought on the basis of current trends rather than future opportunities. The need to focus on short-term measures often prevents governments and businesses from orientating their policy choices toward future possibilities. Do you think that evidence-based policymaking and foresight can coexist? Susann: Yes, absolutely. We need to look at the evidence and make policies based on…