Assumptions and Foresight

Assumptions about futures are at the core of your thinking about futures - they shape your foresight capacity and how you use futures in the present.

Assumptions about futures are at the core of your thinking about futures - they shape your foresight capacity and how you use futures in the present. Here are some things I know these assumptions.

Thinking about futures means challenging our assumptions about futures. What is an assumption? A tacit, taken-for-granted belief about what 'the future' will be like. This belief influences which futures you accept and which you reject - and it keeps your thinking constrained because you think there is only a singular future. There isn't. There are multiple futures available to us in the present - we just have to find them. This is the first step in challenging your assumptions.

You may not have articulated these assumptions before - most times, we are totally unaware that these assumptions are shaping how we think and act when we are talking or communicating about futures. But you can surface assumptions, and you can challenge them. You can reframe them, and move on to more open and expansive…