The British Chamber of Commerce: Leadership Forum on Technology and the Future

The British Chamber of Commerce: Leadership Forum on Technology and the Future

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The British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg proudly welcomed Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø for a fascinating, energising and insightful talk at its Leadership Forum held on 19 October at the Banque de Luxembourg.

The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) represents British companies and individuals in Luxembourg. It also represents Luxembourgish companies and individuals interested in the UK market. Its mission is to promote and support the interests of its members, provide networking opportunities, and facilitate business connections between the UK and Luxembourg.

Liselotte discussed the future and its exciting advancements such as robots, quantum computers, and virtual reality. Cool topics that she frequently engages with in her podcast SUPERTRENDS. She got people excited about the future. Facts like how we’ll soon be able to hug each other in the virtual world blew their minds and they couldn’t believe it when she told them that they’ll soon be able to taste and even smell through our avatars and holograms.

Image created with Dall-E

Liselotte spoke mainly about exciting advancements of the future, but she also warned about the potential risks of new technology. Deep fakes, for example, can lead to scams and fake news. Therefore, we must consider the kind of society we want to create for the future.

The Future of Leadership is Filled with Curiosity

Lyngsø also had some advice for leaders; Namely that they have to get curious and be open-minded about the future. We are moving to a new age of precision, where technology customizes services to our individual needs. This means that a cleaning company in the future might use data analyses to determine what needs cleaning. When, where, and for how long!

Read much more about Liselotte’s visit at the 30-year anniversary of the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg here or watch the video of Liselotte’s presentation in the video below.

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Communities - easy to avoid, extremely important to access

Communities – easy to avoid, extremely important to access

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The constant increase in the use of technology has led to a change in how we interact with each other and participate in communities. Most of us spend more time surfing screens and texting than interacting with people in real life! What is it about communities that is so important, and why is it so important to hold onto them?

That’s the topic of what futurist Liselotte Lyngsø, philosopher Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen, and leader of YOGA Huset, Maj Ingemann Molden discusses in an article from FORA Magazine.

How to solve the feedback crisis

There is a big difference between being in the same room and actually being present. Even though we find ourselves surrounded by real people, we constantly get lured to other places by our screens.

We can achieve great happiness when we put away our phones, look each other in the eyes, and talk. But that requires a lot from us! That is why we do not prioritize physical communities to the same extent as we have before. Additionally, it means that we generally receive less feedback from each other. Something that futurist Liselotte Lyngsø experiences as a huge paradox.

“We are in the middle of a feedback crisis. Even though we search on Google and get a lot of information, we only end up with the knowledge that we look for. We don’t know what we should search for. We can only get that if we listen to what real people tell us – and they’ve gone silent.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

When we interact with other people, we automatically receive feedback, which helps us develop as human beings. Through communities, we learn that there are many ways to see and do things. But communities are also difficult to engage in. They require trust and are often conflict-filled. Therefore, for some, it will be the easiest solution to avoid them altogether. Especially now that we have so much technology that can tell us exactly what we want to hear.

According to Liselotte Lyngsø, this is a shame:

“We need to make huge decisions about climate, biodiversity, and new technologies. And even though we have never had so many opportunities to do something about the world’s condition as we do now, it requires that we decide what we want and what we don’t. That’s where we need the community so we can debate and discuss with each other.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

That includes everyone!

Evening schools create a space where we can train our democratic conversation muscles together. But who are the participants in those spaces? Who are the primary target groups of evening schools? Many evening schools experience challenges in attracting new and younger target groups, and even though the group of older people in the population is growing larger, evening schools need to step up.

We need to involve as many different groups and people as possible if we are to find the best solutions in the future.

“There is a huge potential in thinking more diversity and inclusion into evening schools. Diverse communities with different types of people in the same space doing the same activity are the most innovative.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Read the entire article and learn what philosopher Nicolai Krejberg Knudsen and leader of YOGA Huset, Maj Ingemann Molden have to say about the communities of the future.

Danish article

Putting people first; why is it so important?

People First; Why Is It So Important?

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At the Fast Company annual meeting for innovative leaders and creative people in business, the focus was on how important it is to put people first in technology, design, cities, and sustainability. Why? Because ultimately, we create these things to improve our lives. If we make sure to think about people first, we can also ensure that new technology and ideas will help rather than hurt us. Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø was invited to share her thoughts on the topic.

The Future of Design

What exactly is human-centred design—and how does it help to solve actual human and community needs?

According to experts, a human-centred approach is crucial in designing for a future grounded in human well-being and user satisfaction. Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø says that we will move into a precision age, where data is needed to create well-being.

“This means we can use all this holistic data and be precise in what we think is creating value. We can use data to re-humanize both humans and the planet.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Trust is key to any effective AI implementation

Technology has become an essential part of our lives. It affects the way we work, communicate, and even think. However, as we rely more on technology, it becomes increasingly important that we understand and trust it. Ultimately, by understanding technology, we can use it to its fullest potential. And when we trust it, we can rely on it to enhance our lives.

Discussions on this topic revolve around several important matters. Two fundamental ones are algorithm-based bias and the importance of a team that can effectively use data to create meaningful results.

The key takeaways from this discussion are as follows:

1. For AI to be reliable, we need to use data carefully and avoid mistakes caused by bad data or algorithms. To do this, companies need a team that can use data well and work closely with the business side of things.

2. Data scientists are very important in setting up a good data system for businesses and helping with decision-making. Universities also have an important role in training people to work with AI, so they can find good jobs in this field.

Food Waste: A Humanitarian and Sustainability Issue that Begins at Home

Did you know that an estimated one-third of all the food produced worldwide goes to waste? This was what another discussion revolved around at the Fast Company panel debate.

Food waste is not just a humanitarian issue. It’s also a sustainability concern. It leads to wasted resources such as energy and water. Adding to that, it also produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas. Experts suggest that a key way to tackle the challenge is to change human behaviour. This might be done by raising general awareness of the problem through education.

An additional point of the discussion is that the food industry significantly contributes to climate change. It’s therefore argued that businesses must take a human-centred approach to implement sustainability goals. Finally, the UN climate negotiations in the Middle East and North Africa region prioritize sustainability and seek to address challenges such as waste management and changing human behaviour.

Smart Cities: Using Technology to Improve Life and Services

When building cities and urban environments, keeping the needs and desires of people at the forefront leads to more livable and sustainable communities. This means prioritizing walkability, public transportation, green spaces, and affordable housing, among other things.

Technology such as AI, big data, IoT, and autonomous vehicles are changing cities, workplaces, and homes. This makes them more efficient and improves the quality of life for people.

The pandemic also proved the importance of smart homes in adapting to remote working. To animate the whole city around humans, a human-centric approach is needed. The focus should be on creating spaces for people to be better, promoting health and well-being. Smart city solutions are key in measuring data and improving transparency, inclusiveness, equity, and trust.

Ultimately, keeping humans at the centre of all areas ensures that we can create a world that works for everyone, not just a selected few. When we prioritize the needs and experiences of people, we can build a more equitable, just, and sustainable future. Read the whole panel debate from the 2022 Impact Council annual meeting right here.

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How to gain - and lose - the employees of the future

How to gain – and lose – the employees of the future

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A new generation of employees is ready to conquer the future job market. Prepare yourself for massive changes in the way we work. Are you ready for the new playing field?

In an article from Børsen, futurist Liselotte Lyngsø explains what it will take for future leaders to attract new employees. Her statement is crystal clear: Those who cannot meet the technological and leadership requirements will not attract talent. The adaptable and technology-curious companies will win the race in the battle for the hardest beating hearts and cleverest minds.

TIME FOR REFLECTION

The younger generations are not only against the idea of a lifelong career in the rat race. They also care deeply about what truly creates value. Not only for the companies they work for but also for themselves as individuals and for society. They are ambitious on behalf of the world.

The sustainable work life with hybrid meeting times and -places has come to stay. And future employees will go to great lengths to achieve it.

“You have to see it as LEGO bricks. Many will put together their everyday life differently over time. We swap modules and will happily work for several different companies at once. The lifespan of companies is constantly getting shorter. Therefore, it becomes more and more uncertain to put all your eggs into one basket.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

PRECISION LEADERSHIP

Everything is being digitized, and information and inputs are exploding. Along with artificial intelligence and pattern recognition, it will lead us into a precision society. Everyone will be treated the same by being treated differently. Technologies will enable our leaders to tailor workplaces to the individual’s needs. What do we like to eat? When do we work optimally? Should our “office” be cold or warm? Who do we work best with? How is our mental and physical health, etc. This type of data will become an indispensable management tool that future employees expect their bosses to use in order to create individualized and optimal work spaces.

The most successful workplaces will be those that manage to create a kind of feedback fitness center. Where the benefits of individualization are balanced with communities that tell you everything you didn’t know you couldn’t do without. And where the individual contributes to innovation and onboarding.

OUR DIGITAL WORK TOOLS WILL BECOME AN EXTENSION OF OURSELVES

The upcoming years will be more centered around our place in nature. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the climate changes. For example, we can save 20% CO2 with a weekly work-from-home day!

For many companies, cybersecurity will be a challenge on the hybrid front. But that is just one issue that needs to be addressed. From a climate and individual perspective, it simply does not make sense to have two computers and two phones. Or for procedures and security to stand in the way of freely accessible technology in the workplace.

For Generation Z (1997-2010) and Alpha (2010-2025), their digital work tools will be nothing less than an extension of themselves. So if the workplace cannot accommodate that, it will almost be like losing an arm for them. Equipment and accessibility will become an inevitable factor in accepting a job. We WANT to thrive digitally to be able to work exactly where, when and how we want.

Overall, it is about creating individual workplaces so that each employee can create the most value – together with others.

There will be little patience with workplaces that categorically exclude hardware and software that employees perceive as superior. Technological curiosity will be a crucial parameter in assessing how attractive a company is.

Read the entire article from Børsen with Liselotte Lyngsø right here.

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The Age of Precision

The Age of Precision

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Listen to the podcast from FuturePrint, where futurist Liselotte Lyngsø talks about predicting Brexit, the crisis of leadership, the importance of creativity and future trends.

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How a Cashless Society will Enhance the Transition to Sustainable Energy

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In the future, companies will be able to inhibit bonuses or company cars through blockchain technology. This has the potential to significantly influence the transition to sustainable energy, but it also makes it inevitable to question the ethics of traceable money. How much should the state be able to interfere with our private lives and spendings?

Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø predicts that our society will become highly precision-oriented in the future. Here, budget conversations and conversations about money will have a whole other focus, namely on how we can achieve the highest quality of life through our digital money.

Have you ever wondered how it affects our consumption that we no longer have to sign, enter a code or count physical money before we put things in the shopping cart? What does it mean for the insight into our finances that we pay with fingerprints, facial recognition, and other various forms of digital types of payment?

Futurist Liselotte Lyngsø states the uplifting message that the young gamer generation is full of geniuses when it comes to technology. They’ll have no trouble figuring out how to navigate in a cashless society and they are already used to handling digital money in the gaming world.

An expiration date on money?

Making future forms of payment methods digital comes with so many benefits. One is that it’ll become more difficult for organized crime to exist. Additionally, it has the potential to shut down the black economy completely. In Russia, it’s expected that it will earn the state 35% more in tax income if they start to monitor cash flows in real-time.

If we use new technologies such as blockchain, we will be able to nudge people to make more sustainable and green choices. Right now, 87 countries are working out how to implement more digital and smart money into their societies.

In Sweden, they talk about earmarking the money that parents get during their paternity and maternity leave, so that it won’t be spent on cigarettes and alcohol but only on sustainable baby stuff and healthy choices. The same goes for companies. They’ll nudge their employees to make more sustainable choices by offering them electric cars through the company.

Liselotte Lyngsø has no doubt that the transition to sustainable energy will only speed up if we use technology and nudging. She even considers the possibility to put an expiration date on money. Then we can make sure that it’s included in societal consumption so that if it isn’t used, it’ll be transferred back into the company or go to the state.

Kiss your cash goodbye – in a year, you won’t even notice that they’re gone

During the pandemic, restaurants and shops already started to phase out physical money. In the future, different types of biometrical payment methods will take over.

We already use fingerprints and facial recognition, and at CBS in Copenhagen, Nets is working on a pilot project where You pay with your Dancard via blood vessel scanning in Your finger. These technologies will be highly effective, especially for people who don’t have a bank account.

“Laziness is the way forward. If you can just smile at the camera, this is the way to go. Then you quickly forget that you once had to stick your card into a machine and enter a code.”

-Liselotte Lyngsø.

A possible downside to all these new technologies is that everything might become too easy. Suddenly, the waiting time that once made us reconsider large economical decisions such as loans, is canceled. How should we manage that challenge?

“APP-ati”

In order for us to put digital payment into use, various apps are developed constantly. The Airwallet from Odense is just one out of many examples. The company makes digital payment solutions for laundries, so you avoid the constant hassle of exchanging the right amount of coins.

In other countries, you typically use the same app for the vast majority of things. An example of this is the Chinese app “Alipay”. In Denmark, we have so many different apps that Liselotte Lyngsø believes that the Danes have developed “app-ati”. We can’t stand being introduced to any more apps. We’re tired of fumbling around frantically on our phones in order to find the right app or the right customer club in a payment situation. Luckily, we’ll be able to avoid this in the near future.

Over the next five years, a Siri-like chatbot will listen in and automatically understand our needs and select the right app or loyalty card for the specific location and situation. We won’t have to type anything at all.

Digital assistance will work well in regard to payment, but chatbots who listen and decide what to propose also have a lot of power. Nevertheless, we like to use new, digital payment methods because they are fast and convenient. Just like the fact that we are generous with our personal data if it can affect our health in a positive direction.

Heightened competition

A large amount of data available means that in the future, it will become easier to spot how we ensure a good economy. Banks will be supplemented with new players who are experts at making us understand our economy. Can you imagine the possibility of your personal bank hiring an influencer for you to relate to and lean on in regard to understanding your financial situation? Or getting AI to simulate what you can achieve by acting in a certain way?

Liselotte Lyngsø estimates that the banks that are most open to new ways of putting the economy into play are also the ones that will do best in the competition. It’s about translating data into advice on healthy finances.

“Suddenly, all these new dimensions come into our knowledge. You can fast-forward your finances, and you can follow developments both in what you want to buy, but also in what it will mean for your well-being.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

In New Zealand, they make well-being budgets where they measure what people get out of their money.

For example, if a person wants to pay 500,000 kroner for a new knee, the well-being account with data from other people’s lives can tell them that it is not at all what will make them happy. It might tell them to go to the gym three times a week, spend more time with their wife, and get a dog that they can walk with instead. This gives us completely different and much wiser budget conversations than we are used to. Conversations that are based on analyzes of enormous amounts of data, which have been greatly increased during the pandemic, where we needed data to be able to prevent the spread of infection.

In the future, we can also be greeted by our digital twin avatars in the bank. A twin who can help us spend our money right!

Maybe you want to work from home four days a week? Then your digital twin can tell you that you have to go into the office at least three days a week because you need to be socially stimulated.

Money will become digital, smart and multidimensional and much better at explaining value. The banks must utilize their knowledge so that they can make us wiser on how we make good investments in relation to being human. Both in the short and long term, because we as humans cannot see that for ourselves, says Liselotte Lyngsø.

China is way ahead

In China, the digital currency, yuan, is well underway. It’s the central bank’s digital payment solution. It has no transaction fee and in the long run, it will also work offline. However, it is traceable.

China wants to become the world’s leading state in terms of using artificial intelligence, algorithms, and data collection at the personal level. For example, they’ve measured that some people do not get enough sleep because they’re up gaming or binging movies all night. Therefore, they’ve experimented with shutting down the power between 10 pm and 05 am in certain residential areas. After that, the employees came to work happy and profitable. After that, they decided that Chinese children can only play online for one hour a day, three days a week. It’s obvious that China makes some pretty wild investment decisions on behalf of the citizens. But in return, they provide super advanced technologies which benefit the Chinese tremendously.

The Age of precision is on its way

Smart, digital, and traceable money, of course, raises a number of ethical questions about surveillance and privacy. How much should the state interfere in how we spend our money? In response, Liselotte Lyngsø sees the growing investment interest from private individuals as a good thing. She explains how important it is that ordinary Danes start to have an attitude towards their investments. They shouldn’t just let random pension companies handle them.

In the future, we will have more and more to say about the money field. This will make the market more difficult to see through. We used to almost know exactly which algorithm the banks were operating through. In the future, we will have more but smaller players in the field who are not necessarily logical-thinking but who are able to be emotional in their actions.

All in all, we are entering a new era. After the agricultural society, the industrial society, and the information society, we are on our way to the precision society, where data becomes the decisive focal point.

The age of precision will be about making wiser choices. It’s silly that a car stays parked 90% of the time and fills up expensive areas. It is also foolish to put so much fertilizer in the fields that it sinks into the groundwater. Why invest in something short-term?

Liselotte Lyngsø predicts that we will become much smarter about how to invest. We will think back on 2021 and wonder: “how could we be that naive, believing that we could figure it all out ourselves?!”

Listen to Liselotte Lyngsø talk further about the precision age in this podcast.

Or read or listen to the whole article from Erhverv+ in Danish.

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The Future of Work, Relationships and the Metaverse

The Future of Work, Relationships and the Metaverse

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This article is originally written by Eva Sylwester at The Age of Aquarius.

Host Jacy Nova joins futurist Liselotte Lyngsø, to look into the future of work, relationships and the metaverse.

Liselotte is likely to be one of the most inspiring and enthusiastic people you will ever meet. Her ability to create powerful images and inspire people to align towards shared goals is mind-blowing. She will spin your head around and show you possibilities, that you never even dreamed of. Her big passion in life is to train people to visualize the future.

“I try to polish the window so decision-makers can decide to go with a clearer vision.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

As a futurist, Liselotte tries to imagine what tomorrow will look like. For example, if the metaverse can change how we spend time with each other, it might also alter how we define our most significant relationships.  

“Today, either you’re in a relationship, or you’re single. I think in the future, we’ll have a lot of different relationship categories rather than these two boxes that you can go in – either you are single, or you are settled.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Liselotte also noted a brewing social divide with the potential to grow perhaps even sharper than the chasm between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated: the time owners versus the time slaves.

“More and more people can decide where and how they want to work and when they want to work, they are the time owners, and then you have the time slaves – for instance, healthcare workers that have to be in a hospital at a given time.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Liselotte was careful to clarify the distinction between observing that something is likely to happen in the future and personally being in favor of that outcome.

“If you ask me as a private person, you will get my opinions as a mother of four or as a leader of my company. But, as a futurist, I try to stay apolitical, as neutral as possible.”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

However, Liselotte noted that we still have the power to shape our future and not be afraid of new technologies.

“When we talk about artificial intelligence, it repeats the patterns that we already have in society. So if we live in a biased society, we’re just going to get more of the same. So the important question that remains is what kind of society do we want to create for the future?”

Liselotte Lyngsø.

Listen Liselotte Lyngsø’s entire fascinating conversation with Jacy Nova right here.

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How creative placemaking will benefit Danish society

How creative placemaking will benefit Danish society

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“Creative Placemaking is an evolving field of practice which intentionally leverages the power of the arts, culture and creativity. It serves a community’s interest. It drives a broader agenda for change, growth and transformation in a way that also builds character and quality of place.”

In a report published in June 2021, The Urban Land Institute seeks to reach audiences across interests and borders. Their goal is to address how creative placemaking will bring new economic development opportunities. How it will enhance architectural designs and create a distinctive identity and sense of place to projects.

Along with a number of other stakeholders representing different perspectives on creative placemaking, futurist Liselotte Lyngso has contributed her insight and knowledge to this report.

ABOUT ULI

The Urban Land Institute is a global, member-driven organisation with more than 45,000 real estate and urban development professionals. They’re dedicated to shaping the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.

AboutULI

How creative placemaking will turn places into destinations

Creative placemaking will develop extraordinary and successful real estate projects. Projects that will have a valuable impact. Not only socially and environmentally but also emotionally and financially. It will turn places into destinations!

Have you ever been to Sydhavnskvarteret in Aarhus? Or how about Kødbyen and Refshaleøen in Copenhagen?

The city areas are examples of places where creative placemaking has transformed places into popular destinations for both tourists and locals. Also, the sites attracts both exciting companies and potential new residents. And visitors from the outside are dying to visit. The success of these places will have great effect in terms of economic value.

Besides the economic impact, creative placemaking will deliver social value as well. This will be achieved by inserting art and other cultural features to the sites. Adding these valuables, residents and visitors will find themselves more attracted to the site. This will improve their emotional well-being, realising that the site or building is more than just bricks.

Do you want to read more about how creative placement will impact Danish society and communities in the future? How it will have an impact on making our cities sustainable?

Read  the ULI report right here.

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Pandemic, war, climate change... How will the ongoing crisis change Europe?Future Navigator

War, pandemic & climate change: How will the ongoing crisis change Europe?

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Two years with a pandemic. A war with the potential to last social and economic consequences. An ever-raging climate crisis. In a session of Foundation Forum 2022, futurist Liselotte Lyngso joins youth representative Emmy Coffey, and political scientist Ivan Krastev, to talk about how we can rethink the future of Europe.

From post-war to pre-war sentiments 

Right before the war broke out in Ukraine, we’d just started to grasp on to the hope that the world was almost back to normal. We could look forward to a life without lock down and isolation. At that moment, the future of Europe looked very much different than what it looks like today! 

And one thing that’s changed is our feeling of security. The EU union was born in the aftermath of two world wars. It’s built on the idea of democracy, social market economies, the rule of law, and the individual’s right of liberty. But it has paid less attention to issues around collective insecurity. Have we been too self-righteous and naive? 

Remember when people were hoarding toilet paper from the supermarkets when the pandemic had just broken out? Well, the same thing is happening now, just with iodine at the pharmacies and prepping cars. According to Ivan Krastev, this is reflecting how unsafe we feel as citizens of a Europe, where security that used to derive from interdependence and close-knit trade relations, is becoming a source of huge vulnerability. 

A shift into the precision age 

Society changes all the time. We’ve gone from agriculture to industrial society and now, with all the crisis we’re facing, we’re moving from Information Society and into the Precision Age according to futurist Liselotte Lyngso. 

The climate crisis will only continue to cut our resources and make it impossible for us to continue to use and spend commodities without a focus on the value we get in return – and as we have before. Additionally, we will face inflation, rising prices and product shortages because of the Ukraine crisis which will also make us think twice on how much and what we really need. I mean, 1 Euro per egg!? Maybe we should begin to rethink what dishes we really need and how much food waste to accept? 

Luckily, we won’t have to go through these major adjustments just by using our own common sense. With the quick advent of smart technology and IOT, super computers will soon be able to calculate the specific amount we need for a certain cause automatically. This means we’ll have the ability to measure how much food we need to buy so we don’t waste any, how much fertilizer we can use before it ruins our drinking water and so on. 

It’s a game changer to ask ourselves when is enough, enough? Less will be more for both the planet and humanity! Listen to the rest of the session and learn more about the future of Europe in the video below. 

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Nature Calls - But what Kind of Nature?Future Navigator

Nature Calls – But what Kind of Nature?

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We live in the Anthropocene period. Human interaction with nature has rapidly and radically changed our ecosystem, our habitat, our planet. We all know the challenges flowing from global warming, the crisis of biodiversity and the accelerated exploitation of natural resources. The Energy war in Europe will speed up the need to make up our mind. But the best is yet to come. What is at stake is the fundamental relation between humankind and nature. 

By futurist Liselotte Lyngsø.

By 2050 we will have lab grown meat from stem cells at a very low cost. Animal production will be transformed to high-tech facilities able to meet consumer demand on an individual level. Likewise, agriculture from the fields will be replaced by efficient harvest from local urban vertical gardens that only need LED light, water and minerals in order to get the produce to grow and with at least 4xtimes the capacity.

So, thanks to these new industries, the whole world will be fed well despite drastic climate changes, draught and flooding. This will be unevenly distributed – as most technological progress has been – but eventually the conclusion will be the same: 30 years from now we won´t need nature as we know it. Agricultural farmland, pigs and wild prawns from the oceans will belong to the ZOOs and a few organic aficionados. 

Today, half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. This ratio will decline in significant numbers! On top of this shift in the production paradigm, more land will be freed thanks to driverless mobility and people working online as avatars – freeing up land. 

What will happen when this formerly scarce resource becomes abundant? Will we still care about nature, when we no longer need it for producing food to survive? Will we still respect the “limits of nature” when in essence there are none? 

This is a fundamental new point of departure for decisionmakers in politics, finance, industry, art, academia and leaders in the spiritual sphere. Vested interests will be confronted with a new reality in which they need to adapt and transform in ways they can’t even imagine. 

Two scenarios that stress the need for radical and disruptive thinking

Two scenarios can direct our way of strategic thinking about the crucial nexus between humankind and nature in the coming years. The scenarios are by definition “ideal-types”, work in progress, but they stress the profound need for radical and disruptive thinking. 

1st scenario: Worshipping nature

– Technology is used to restore nature and biodiversity

So, will we respect the limits of nature in 2050? Yes of course! Climate change made us aware of the huge interdependence between mankind, biological systems and fauna diversity. The complexity of nature including chains of reactions and tipping points that we did not foresee made us humble and urged us to take action. 

After a growing number of global cyber-attacks from both hostile governments and criminals closing down the internet access for months, our vulnerability became apparent to everyone. Worshipping nature and obtaining Mother Nature’s living skills became the new gold rush. The industrial era when we thought that mechanics could sort out everything was replaced by an augmented and smart nature that was decentralized and able to survive both on and off the grid.

The true religion for most people became nature. As the catastrophes mounted due to climate changes – the green movements got more and more radical. Nature parks became sites for congregations. Wildlife Guardians evolved into a new cast of “warrior monks” fighting polluters to restore the glory of the biological sphere. Nature obtained legal rights like people as a bid to protect it from future threats. Animal consciousness was taken seriously. We no longer compared pigs to three-year-old children, but cherished them in their own right. 

People left the big cities, for self-sustained communities connected to a global grid of knowledge. Supplementing local produce and power generation with online knowhow, monitorization and the latest recipes for 3D-printing. 

Wild gardens and animals where the parking lots used to be created an explosion of small village ecosystems. Smart and varied sustainable driverless mobility freed up huge urban spaces that were allowed to lie fallow.

Back in 2030, people still sat themselves to death as most work had to be conducted sitting inside behind a screen. Now we have mind reading devices and augmented surroundings powered by body-flow and movement that makes us prefer to stand up, meet up and move around outside. The fact that much more time is spent outside makes us care way more about our surroundings and the positive impact it has on our health and wellbeing.

Concepts like interdependence and networked society, once used as empty buzzwords, have become meaningful terms underlining the umbilical cord connecting us to the planet. 

Regenerative produce has become the norm as smart tech was able to monitor watering and protect plants from pests without using fertilizers.

The world population of people is decreasing as global awareness is increasing and most of us are no longer starving. We are using a lot of both physical, social and mental energy on organizing a sustainable life locally while engaging and inspiring back to a common good globally. Biodiversity plays an essential role in all strains of life.

2nd scenario: Jurassic Park in your backyard

– Technology is used to create a human centered world of abundance.

At the beginning of the industrial age, we were dependent on horses for cargo. Then cars came, and we stopped thinking about animals as a part of the transportation grid. Out of sight – out of mind! Today horse riding is for the few and just for fun. Likewise, we will stop caring about nature once we don’t need it anymore – especially when it comes to agriculture and animal farming. The business of business is business! A few areas are kept wild for tourists to explore – but interest in wildlife and nature is low.

Most of us have lived in mega cities far away from forest and wildlife for generations. 68% in 2022. In 2050, we are close to 90 percent! Mega cities are sophisticated networks of technological enhanced personalized universes providing us with all the stimulus that we could ever dream off. Virtual nature is with hyper realistic graphics and stimulus. A better substitute than any great outdoors.[1]

When we think about nature it’s the green plants that are invited in to decorate and absorb water on our skyscrapers or when visiting the local park.

By 2030, we concluded that staycation – bringing the world to our home via virtual reality rather than venturing into nature ourself – was way more entertaining, informative, indulging, much safer and easier. And cheaper!

It is not likely that we will care much about the real nature as we can climb Mount Everest in virtual reality getting the exact same smells, tastes, sensations and rushes without risking our lives, stressing the environment or our wallet.

Parking lots, fields and animal farms has been replaced by solar cells, mining spaces for minerals, CO2-storage, growing cities and concrete. Furthermore, a lot of land has disappeared due to rising sea levels.

A few gated communities with nature reserves have been kept as museums. They contain species from across time: Mammut’s, dinosaurs and more recent species – all de-extinct for research purposes and expensive adventure.

The world of people is rapidly increasing as no-one dies of old age or diseases any longer. Life expectancy is growing dramatically, as we are able to replace and regrow broken bits and tissue and have developed vaccines against cancer, malaria, diabetes and most else. Everybody has a backup in the form of a digital twin – intact with all your memories and sensations. New born babies have all had their genes edited to favor longevity and contentment.

Even our pets live until their 40s. And when they die, we tend to get a similar one thanks to affordable cloning.

We have turned our back on nature as it turned its back on us. We have become intertwined cyborg artifacts that are cloned, bred, and designed to survive – whether we thrive is a question of getting the programming right. The gamer generation has designed a multitude of realities that we can choose to live and work in. Nature has become a tired symbol of humankind’s physical attachment to earth. Of weakness and fragility. We are just about to embark on real space living, changing thousand years of history. For the first time, we will have freed ourself of nature. You will be able to construct life anywhere – from Mars to underground!

The climate changes that are confronting us will no doubt invite to radical action towards 2050 – we will be fighting for our future existence. Exploring different scenarios can help us posing the right questions and addressing the important dilemmas. Do we want a better life or a longer life? Do we want to fill the planet with people or wildlife? Do we want lifted or stupid children? The ethical dilemmas will only get bigger!

Read also: Let’s save the climate – no time for compromises!

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[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/04/28/can-virtual-nature-be-good-substitute-great-outdoors-science-says-yes/