When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” As a teacher, I am familiar with this well-known Zen proverb. What I did not expect is that my students would turn the table on me and become my teacher. I teach a class on critical thinking at the College of St. Benedict’s and Saint John’s [...]
Editor’s Note: The following article has been written for Compass, the quarterly magazine for the Association of Professional Futurists. When it is published later this Spring, it will be behind a paywall. As the author, I have been given permission to share it with my readers and followers. It is entitled, “The Spare Lung: Why [...]
I speak to a lot of people and audiences about the advances in artificial intelligence. One of the most common refrains I hear is something along the lines of this: “I tried ChatGPT/Gemini/ClaudeAI and it didn't do a very good job.” I understand the sentiment and agree that, at the present time, AI remains far [...]
“The power of questions” was the theme of my class at the college of Saint Benedict and St. John's University this past week. Right before the break, I asked, “In the spirit of questions, do you have any questions for me?” I told the students they could ask me any questions they wanted. There was [...]
Suggesting that the direction of the future is spiritward is a bold claim. For starters, it presupposes a belief in spiritual things. The greatest of which is the idea that you, I, and everyone else are spiritual beings. Personally, I’m convinced that this figure is 100 percent. I will, however, candidly acknowledge that I cannot [...]
Dear Readers: In the coming weeks and months, I intend to write more about my idea that the direction of the future is Spiritward. (If you wish to follow my daily thoughts, I invite you to subscribe to my free Substack account.) If you’re confused by the word Spiritward, I invite you to think of [...]
In the book “The Sun Also Rises,” Ernest Hemingway wrote the line, “Gradually and then suddenly,” to describe how a character went bankrupt. The phrase also neatly captures how our future is poised to change because of three transformational issues: the burgeoning national debt, accelerating advances in artificial intelligence, and the looming climate crisis. Let’s [...]
My Fellow Futurists: I am writing to all of you in the spirit of open, honest inquiry. I am deeply concerned about our collective future and feel that we, as professional futurists, thinkers, imagineers, and creators of the future, have a moral obligation and responsibility to use our respective voices and platforms on behalf of [...]
In the fall of 1987, I almost washed out of the Navy’s Officer Candidate School. This is a polite way of saying I nearly flunked out. The crux of the matter was that I had a difficult time comprehending what I considered to be the dark art of celestial navigation. Passing the course required a [...]
The greatest change today is the rate of change itself. The world is accelerating and the implications of technological change will be profound. Nowhere is this more clear than in the field of farming. Below are twelve trends I expect to continue to transform the agricultural industry in the year ahead. Satellite Technology: On [...]
Editor's Note: As both a practical and a "thought" experiment, I used ClaudeAI to generate this week's newsletter. I did this not because I am lazy (although I can be lazy) but because I was genuinely curious about how well AI could curate a newsletter. The short answer is that it did a good although [...]
If we are to think about the future and do it well, I have one piece of unconventional advice as a long-time professional futurist–Don’t. That is, don't try to think about the future. First, become grounded in the present and learn to meditate. The practice of meditation takes a lifetime to master and I certainly [...]
Futurist Jack Uldrich discuss how a change of heart is leading to a change in the nature of his work.
(Every year, I offer this caveat: As a futurist, I don’t actually claim to make predictions about the future. Still, I know people enjoy predictions so I offer up these 10 “predictions” not because I believe they will happen exactly as I describe but rather to encourage you to think about how you, your business [...]
Jack Uldrich explains how a single, tiny can--and will-change the world.
After some reflection, I have decided to share this short, personal story. For too long, as a professional futurist, I have not acknowledged the essential role the human heart will play in transforming the future. I don't know what this means for my own future as a "futurist," but I am no longer going to [...]
Futurist Jack Uldrich provides his annual list of ten predictions for the coming year.
Futurist Jack Uldrich offers his annual set of predictions for the coming year.
On my substack feed the other day, I wrote that imagination is a form of perception. What I meant is that the human imagination properly understood and harnessed can help us discern the future. As a way to make my point, I showed the two photos below and asked the question in whose imagination would [...]
If we are to move spiritward and evolve as spiritual beings, it is imperative we understand the imagination as a spiritual tool. Consider this statement: We already live in the imaginations of other people. To understand the truth of this statement look at the following two photos: The picture on the left is an Italian [...]
Earlier this week, I came across this article, “AI That Acts Before You Ask is the Next Leap in Intelligence.” The subtitle reads, “The future belongs to proactive systems.” The authors are right in one sense. This is exactly what AI proponents are pushing and it is what AI companies will, in fact, be able [...]
I highly recommend this article by Ryan Holiday: 26 Rules to Be a Better Thinker in 2026 I encourage you to read and, per Holiday’s own advice, re-read it. If you are pressed for time, here are my quick take-a-ways: Think for yourself. Your first thought is rarely your own. It most likely belongs to [...]
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