Amara’s Law
We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. Roy Amara, Past President, Institute for the Future
Concepts
What is societal resilience?
Societal resilience refers to a community or system’s ability to withstand shocks, adapt to change, and even transform in response to major challenges. Whether we’re talking about families, organizations, cities, or entire nations, resilient systems can manage disruption without descending into dysfunction. Rather than being an abstract ideal, societal resilience is grounded in real-world capacity: …
The Cobra Effect
The story goes that during 19th-century British colonial rule in India, authorities introduced a bounty system in Delhi to reduce the number of cobras, paying rewards for every dead snake. While the initiative initially seemed effective, it soon backfired when people began breeding cobras to profit from the payouts. Once officials realized this, they ended …
VUCA
VUCA is an acronym in strategic foresight that stands for Volatility Uncertainty Complexity Ambuguity These are some of the factors someone engaging in strategic foresight must consider when considering alternative futures.
A strategic foresight mindset
It has been suggested that strategic foresight practitioners have the following qualities and abilities: An anticipatory mindset The ability to see opportunities when exploring the future The motivation and perseverance to do good for self and others. — From Strategic Foresight 101, ITU Academy
What is bibliotherapy?
Bibliotherapy is a fancy way to describe the use of books and reading as a therapeutic tool to support mental health and personal growth. It can be formal (guided by a therapist who prescribes specific readings) or informal (self-directed reading for emotional support and insight). The practice is based on the idea that reading can …
What is a commonplace book?
A commonplace book is a personal collection of notes, quotes, observations, and information that an individual finds meaningful or worth remembering. People have recorded passages from their reading, personal reflections, recipes, prayers, or anything else they wanted to preserve and revisit. The books serve as both a memory aid and a way to organize knowledge. …
Book journaling
Book journaling is a practice of documenting your reading experience and reflections in a dedicated notebook or journal. It can include: Reading logs tracking books completed Quotes that resonated Personal reactions to characters and plot Sketches or doodles inspired by the book Ratings and reviews Reading goals and TBR (to be read) lists Emotional responses …
Thought-terminating cliches
From this Guardian article. "the phrase describes a catchy platitude aimed at shutting down or bypassing independent thinking and questioning. I first heard about the tactic while researching a book about the language of cult leaders, but these sayings also pervade our everyday conversations: expressions such as “It is what it is”, “Boys will be boys”, …
Creativity subsumed by capitalist consumption
In this interview, Alex Tier suggests that for many of us, our creativity has been subsumed by capitalist consumption. That is, rather than express ourselves by creating something, we express ourselves through our patterns of consumption. Our identity is constructed by what we buy, how we decorate our houses, what we wear, etc. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0MOuQwqftAMhJhS2sKKqqh?si=5q-utsv8TdqE9LcetIirqA