Dinergoths, robustness, and punk health
April 10, 2026
Welcome to this 175th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”.
Each week, I personally sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter, take the time to send me a note and introduce yourself, I love to understand who is reading.
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I have prepared this newsletter last week as I find myself in Milan, Italy. This is what I noticed these past couple of weeks, thank you for sharing with those who look into the future.
Estelle.
Competitive Intelligence
A collection of sorting algorythms. Real-time Global Animal Consumption Stats. How AI-Powered Web Scraping is Transforming Retail Intelligence. Five Findings About Today’s Market And Competitive Intelligence Programs.
Strategic blindspots and business models
Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new business model opportunities while avoiding risks stemming from strategic blindspots. This section also is about the risks we miss.
The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis. HBO is premiering the new season of its hit show Euphoria at Coachella. TikTok filed to become a financial lender and payments issuer in Brazil. The age of robustness. What a beautiful train ride experience. Chokepoints are the true crossroads of history. Fox to integrate the prediction market’s data across the media giant’s various cable networks. Uber and Volkswagen are rolling out their new microbus robotaxi service
Why we should know what we don’t know … and avoiding the swiss tunnel.
Our future
The first batch of Gen Beta parents is here. Researchers at GovAI and Brookings estimated vulnerability to job displacement due to AI. Why ‘Punk Health’ Foods Are Popular with China’s Youth. The Drones Coming to Schools. Chatbot Companionship: A Mixed-Methods Study of Companion Chatbot Usage Patterns and Their Relationship to Loneliness in Active Users. The atlas of new futures.
Book a speaking engagement about weak signals and emerging trends.
Weak signals
Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?
Rage rooms: demand is surging and 90% of customers are women. What would you pay to bring your fictional boyfriend to life? Allbirds, the once-DTC sneaker darling of Silicon Valley, is being sold to American Exchange Group for $39 million, a 95% discount of its valuation just five years ago. A truck carrying 12 tons of KitKat bars, roughly 414,000 packages of chocolate wafers, was stolen. The mysterious Redditor who’s changing the way we do laundry. Waymo will start sharing pothole data with city officials in the municipalities where it operates.
Contact me to get the list of 250 weak signals spotted in 2025.
Down the rabbit hole
This section highlights a subject that led me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors: “A rabbit hole is not a distraction. A rabbit hole is your brain trying to tell you to pay attention to something you’re curious about. Ignore algorithmic rabbit holes” ( by are.na):
This week, I explored the world of beautiful public data.
On my radar
I have been working on a training program for board of directors, which I am giving in April in Canada, about how boards are increasingly using AI to help them prepare, and participate to board meetings: Using AI in the Boardroom—New Opportunities and Challenges. Do’s and Don’ts of Using AI: A Director’s Guide. Using AI in the boardroom. AI in the Boardroom: Which Industries Are Leaning In, Which Are Holding Back. How activist investors could turn AI use into a governance test.
Need to provide training for your executive team or your board on artificial intelligence tool can or should be used in the boardroom?
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths.
The Scottish island that bought itself. Notes on dinergoths. Owning the Future of War Tech: Mishaps, Delays, and Challenges Abound. The hypercurious mind. A record number of objects went into space in 2025.
Unpacking AI
I choose here a few articles that demystify how AI will be pragmatically embedded in our world
America Needs AI That Can Do Math. A study by Stanford University researchers found that chatbots, in order to keep us engaged, are overly flattering when we ask for personal advice. What happens when AI can hack everything?
Feeling good
Obsolete sounds. Articles from Wikipedia that have had fewer than 2,000 views in the past year. Places to draw on. The balance bench.
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