Future Salience

Giving more power to the people

It's common, but often under-estimated, that using new technologies well requires changing the system they operate in too. A case study of two Swedish…

Oct 10 • 

Robert Hickson

1

Reforming multilateralism and the United Nations

The President of the Republic of Finland recently gave a reasoned and succinct analysis of why the UN needs to be reformed, and its ongoing importance…

Oct 5 • 

Robert Hickson

1

Electrotech - thinking beyond just energy storage

We are seeing a proliferation of energy storage ideas and devices to help power the future. But we also need to be thinking more about how we could use…

Oct 1 • 

Robert Hickson

September 2025

Avoiding utopian and paralytic narratives about circular economies

Visions for more sustainable futures are often captured by polarised perspectives and narratives. Developing more grounded narratives may help.

Sep 14 • 

Robert Hickson

1

July 2025

A rough futures landscape for Aotearoa

Creating a set of terrains to help define and explore the futures landscape

Jul 22 • 

Robert Hickson

Developing a futures landscape for Aotearoa

An crucial step for developing better futures scenarios here may be in first having a more insightful view of the landscape of drivers of change.

Jul 13 • 

Robert Hickson

2

June 2025

Limits on artificial thinking

Generative AI may seem creative, but like us it's poor at reasoning when things get too complex

Jun 13 • 

Robert Hickson

2

Bringing future thinking back into democracy

Long-term thinking may be essential to help revive democracy

Jun 5 • 

Robert Hickson

April 2025

Previous New Zealand-specific scenarios

Aotearoa has a modest collection of futures scenarios. This has picked up in the last 5 years, but scenarios for New Zealand need to be more ambitious…

Apr 14 • 

Robert Hickson

March 2025

Flaws in grand and minor technological narratives

There are plenty of narratives about technological futures, but most seem flimsy. Effective ones need to be well-grounded in realities, not just be…

Mar 27 • 

Robert Hickson

Linear vs less linear futures narratives

Many trends reports are useless. The good ones distill without losing inherent dynamics

Mar 16 • 

Robert Hickson

4

February 2025

Is there any point to being a “futurist” today?

The US's geopolitical meltdowns seem to have caught many by surprise; either in their scale and/or the speed. Where's good foresight when you need it…

Feb 24 • 

Robert Hickson

4