I’m trying to build a time machine to get back to the present, but I’m all out of fluxcapacitor. It’s a boring place to be, to know the future, but the anticipation of surprise, is what kept ninjas alive.

Here’s some tips on forecasting the future:

Few things that will try to derail and cloud your ability to effectively forecast the future:
1) The media generated hype (“the sky is falling!” type of articles)
2) Experts’ grandiose statements (“internet is dead!” type of statements)
3) Your own ego (just because you want it to happen, doesn’t mean it will)

A few rules to keep in mind:
1) Everything you forecast WILL happen. It’s a matter of when.
2) You can forecast the future of a culture and society, but not the future of an individual.
3) Things don’t disappear, they get replaced, by what, you decide.

Things to practice:
1) System thinking – relationships between the collision of concepts
2) Contextual thinking – relationship of potential scenarios
3) Evolutionary thinking – relationship between foundational beliefs and progressive change

Forecasting the future takes practice and an extensive understanding of everything relevant. The more you can quickly identify relevant topics in society, the better you’ll become at forecasting the future. There are tips and tricks to forecast the future, and I’ll be conducting a workshop at the Swiss Design Network Conference in Basel at the end of October, so come check it out.