Welcome to this 118th 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 have prepared this newsletter this week from Toronto, Ontario. This is what I noticed this week, thank you for sharing with those who look into the future.
Estelle.
Competitive Intelligence
Five routes of access to scientific literature. Free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from more than 70 search services. The ability of multimodal AI to accurately work out where a photo has been taken. 2 ways to find the full email of a place on Google Maps.
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.
Huawei sets up new smart car company as it gets more serious about autos. Ford’s Connected Test Drive. TikTok parent company ByteDance filed a patent application for a “book information display method.” Gen Z Americans want rent payments included in their credit scores and Zillow is responding.Tipping Point With Snow in Short Supply. Becoming a bank is hard.
The problem with thinking in straight lines and this quote:
But we have the idea of linearity drilled into us so early on and so often that sometimes we forget that other relationships can even exist. Our overfamiliarity with linear relationships means that, when something occurs that is nonlinear, it can catch us off-guard and confound our expectations.
Our future
We keep you updated on those trends and more on Twitter.
Zombie trends. Gen Z is driving the ‘prejuvination’ movement and normalizing ‘tweakments’. Tab, the anticipated wearable AI that is described as a superpower tamagotchi.
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?
In Amsterdam, green grocery baskets indicate shoppers are open to chatting with strangers. Austrian company Migaloo is developing a 541-foot-long submersible that can hold 20 passengers, dive to a depth of 820 feet, and stay submerged for four weeks. US Secretary of State was temporarily stranded in Davos, Switzerland, after his modified Boeing 737 was deemed unsafe to fly. A former account exec at Cloudflare, recorded her firing. Subway is adding three new lengthy items to its menu.
On our radar
I am preparing a keynote presentation that I will give in Winnipeg in February to board directors on polycrisis: The duty of foresight. Are we in the age of the polycrisis? How historians look at polycrisis. Long-run socio-cultural factors shape response to changing climate. Permacrisis is a dictionary’s word of the year. What Association Boards and CEOs Must Understand in the Age of Polycrisis.
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 stumbled upon the World’s population ‘s prospects.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths
The lost tetrapods. How to Thrive in an Uncertain World. Silicon Valley runs on futurity. How geography has shaped language development. Casting light on relief map shading. The Farmers Had What the Billionaires Wanted.
Numbers
101,500 - This year, there are an estimated 101,500 people in the United States aged 100 and up — 0.03 percent of the overall U.S. population — and over the next several decades that number is expected to jump steeply.
2230- A new analysis from 709 volunteers found that the average participant on Facebook had 2,230 different companies share data with Facebook about them. For 96 percent of respondents, the data broker LiveRamp at one point or another shared data with Facebook, the most common dealer among the set.
1.7- There are currently 1.7 million satellite launch plans filed with the U.S. International Telecommunication Union from 2023 to 2029.
Feeling good
1,435: number of recordings of fireworks on freesound.org. Watching the world. Compare the city you know with the city you don't.
Image by Polycrisis Transition Consultancy.
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