Worldbuilding, soft dragons, and sniper robots

November 11, 2022

Nov 11, 2022

Welcome to this 80th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I 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 am sending this newsletter this week from Le Brassus, Switzerland. This is what I noticed these past couple of weeks, thank you for sharing this newsletter with those who look into the future.

Share Weak signals and other trends

Estelle.

Competitive Intelligence

Using AI for good. Retrieves autocomplete suggestions from Google to get the full profile for someone or a company. Search patterns. Search podcasts. Wordwide beneficial ownership data. A tool for detailed analysis of international trade.

Strategic blindspots

Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new business model opportunities while avoiding risks stemming from strategic blindspots.

Audi puts VR in the backseat of a car. The Most Vulnerable Place on the Internet. Do Restaurants Need Cashiers Anymore? Smartphone data from drivers could help spot when bridges need urgent repairs. Greenland’s Melting Ice Sheet Brings an Unexpected Flow of Wealth Potential. Theaters to create Zoom rooms. Netflix is reportedly interested in the streaming rights of niche sports tournaments.

Our future

10 Futuristic Cities That May Be Built In Your Lifetime. Top marketers from United, Disney and Mastercard on the trends that will define 2023. Engineers light the way to bionics of the future. Worldbuilding. Living with soft dragons. Consumer trends 2023. Sniper robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals. Office building-to-apartment conversions hit a high. Your future transfusion could be with lab-grown blood. Fastest growing occupations. AXA Future Risks Report 2022.

We keep you updated on those trends and more on Twitter.

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?

Starlink - dynamic 3D orbit display. Insights From Roblox ‘2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends’ Report. Germany introduces unlimited train travel for £1.50 per day. A patent in machine learning of grasp poses in cluttered environments. Vintage Photo Booths Are Back, and Baffling Newbies. Medium distance between recently purchased home and former house. Deaditors. Weather reports on French television now include electricity forecasts.

Numbers

2- Apple may reach 2bn active devices within a year.

2- $2bn has been spent buying land on various metaverse platforms in the past year.

Down the rabbit hole

This section highlights a subject that lead 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 went into Future Canvas.

Hodgepodge discovery

Articles for curious minds and the polymaths

The Time magazine project. The Bauhaus Pedagogy. What Moneyball Has Done to American Culture. A Tale of Two Documents: How the Bitcoin White Paper Outperformed Dodd‐Frank. The top posthumous earners. A report detailing 28 algorithms that Washington DC uses to automate work across public benefits, health care, policing, and housing. How ‘Fist Rice’ Became a Symbol of Korean Democracy.

I like new words, this week I discovered: the dabbawalas.

Feeling good

Inside the great pyramid. No more very. An app in Israël to argue with someone.

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