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 [...]

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 am not an expert on what’s going on in the field of artificial intelligence. As a professional futurist, though, I am trained to see and think about what others may not be seeing. To this end, I have four observations that may prove helpful to AI investors. First, all the leading AI players are [...]

Thought Leadership: Generally speaking, I am an optimistic person with regard to the future. However, three trends are now converging that are seriously challenging my outlook on the future. The first and nearest term trend is the rise of authoritarian political regimes around the world, including the U.S. The second trend is the rise of [...]

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 [...]