Institute for the Future

Welcome to Institute for the Future’s new office, teaching & convening space on California Ave. in Palo Alto! With neighbors like a game company & a coding academy, this place is going to be a lot of fun. Big thanks to the whole team that made our cross-town office move possible: Salley Calais Westergaard, Lindy Willis, Jean Hagan, Teffera G. Teffera, Julie Ericsson, Maureen Kirchner, Katie & more! #CarFreeStreets #Foresight

Fresh from the stage! TEDNext 2024 shared notes about the conference last week: "As a futurist who helps people prepare for hard-to-imagine possibilities, Jane McGonigal, IFTF Director, Game Research & Development, thinks we overuse words like 'unthinkable' and 'unimaginable.' She takes the audience through three hypothetical scenarios, showing how we can all foster the ability to think creatively about the future — and feel ready for anything." Read more about the other speakers who presented last week with TED Conferences. https://lnkd.in/gNRFcKjm #SocialSimulation #Futuresthinking #Imaginable #FutureReadiness

From IFTF Toolkit & Forecast into Reality: Microsoft's AI "Employees" are here! In early 2024, IFTF created an “AI Bestiary Foresight Toolkit” with a typology of scenarios and 12 AI agents or bots—from helpful assistants to digital guardians to workmates (for an array of potential personal and workplace colleagues). Just yesterday Microsoft launches autonomous AI agents as employees. (https://lnkd.in/gnHi36G5) Are you ready to harness this transformative moment? Is your organization for the AI future? Contact IFTF, we can help! #futureofwork #futureoftechnology #ai

Gratitude to Jennifer Laine of San Benito County Arts Council & their partners for hosting a walking tour of San Juan Bautista to kick off the Creative Economy Workgroup. Seeing art pieces like Hypothetical Future by Jennifer Jen Grey & Priorities by Cardi Toellner and In Her Hands by Rosanna Alvarez was a GREAT way to prime our minds to consider the #future of California’s Creative Economy. And seeing the recent mural by Yanoe x Zoueh that is part of the Caltrans Clean California program—as well as the layered & complicated long-term history of the mission was important. #LookBackToLookForward The Institute for the Future team is looking forward to a great day ahead. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gEdZPV6E Marina Gorbis Danielle Brazell Rod Falcon Nathalie Lopez Ayca Guralp Ben Hamamoto #CreativeEconomy #Foresight

Congratulations to Daron Acemoglu, whose studies of the modern and historical challenges to institutions, democracy, and equitable prosperity, as laid out in "Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity," (2023, co-authored with Simon Johnson), point to the structures we could put in place to increase long-term equality in our societies. "Countries with 'inclusive' institutions that protected personal property rights and allowed for widespread economic participation tended to end up on a pathway to longer-term prosperity." (https://lnkd.in/gCZu_xxY) #equitablefutures #futureofwork

CAC Executive Director, Danielle Brazell, attended the California Forward Economic Summit yesterday and facilitated the close out plenary session with our statewide partners and colleagues exploring: What is the #Creative #Economy and why is it so important to California? Special thanks to our panel of experts: Marina Gorbis of Institute for the Future, Andrea Hansen of KERN DANCE ALLIANCE, Jason Foster of Destination Crenshaw, Nancy Hill of Shasta County Arts Council and John Truitt of Viva Downtown Redding. https://lnkd.in/g4NmZAeX

Had a great time last week as guest lecturer on generative AI at Stanford Law School. Engaging discussion with these grad students on the many emerging legal implications for GenAI.

Only 2 more days until IFTF Fast Futures: Foresight for Beginners in 90 minutes on Oct 9 at 10am PT, with Jane McGonigal! Sign up now to join and learn with us in this fun, fast-paced, interactive online environment! https://lnkd.in/g9weAFc8

We are excited to announce that Jane McGonigal is getting back on the TEDNext stage, from TED Conferences, to share her work with Institute for the Future on social simulations of what some call "unthinkable" and "unimaginable" futures. Through social simulations, we invite you to think creatively and courageously about possibilities that others dismiss as impossible. See Jane and the list of her fellow speakers appearing at TEDNext on Oct 22-24. tedtalks.social/4d6nThU #whatif #imaginable #futuresthinking #socialsimulation #futureready