Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future launches Tuesday 2 June…
New book suggests how the world might look and function in the future, exploring topics such as:
- Holding a bi-annual ‘quarantine month’ drill to prepare for next pandemic
- Reskilling society to survive and thrive in a post-pandemic world
- Having a digital replica of yourself to help control the spread of the next virus
- Considering whether indebted countries might merge or be ‘adopted’ by richer nations.
Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future has been created in less than10 weeks to explore 28 possible scenarios and development paths for the post-pandemic future. This provocative book is a fast-track response to the need for future perspectives, which can take the public debate beyond current issues such as lockdown policies and getting children back into education.
Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future is a collaboration between 25 respected future thinkers from around the globe, who draw on their expertise and insight with the goal of providing individuals, leaders, and organisations with a vision of what kind of world we might be facing – from a few months’ time through to 2035. The verdict is largely optimistic. Indeed, many contributors see the pandemic as a once in a generation opportunity for change that can reset our values and lead to a fairer, more progressive, transparent, and sustainable society.
The book has been initiated and edited in less than ten weeks by global futurists Rohit Talwar, Steve Wells, and Alexandra Whittington from research and insights business Fast Future. The book features contributions from experts as far and wide as the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, the United States, and South Africa. Fast Future received 115 contributions in total and a second book is planned for release in early September of this year.
Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future covers four core themes: critical shifts and scenarios, society and social policy, government and economy, and business and technology. It offers concise, insightful, and action enabling ideas and provocations in chapters such as:
- Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic World
- This IS a Drill—Preparing for the Next Pandemic
- Post-Pandemic Homes
- Which Way for America? Four Alternative Futures
- Policing the New Normal
- The Next Futures of Organisations, Work, and the Workplace
- Using the Crisis to Remake Government for the Future
- Reshaping the Economic Agenda.
Alternating between fact and fiction, the book explores topics such as the effects of social distancing on crime; whether indebted countries might have to consider merging or be taken over by richer nations; the potential for adoption of personal digital twins; and how might companies change the way they work so that they are more resilient and responsive to sudden, disruptive events.
Editor of Aftershocks and Opportunities and CEO of Fast Future, Rohit Talwar explains: “A crisis can be the ideal time to reset our thinking, refocus our strategy, and try new ideas to lay the foundations for a sustainable future.”
“We’re standing in the middle of the unfolding pandemic surveying the chaos it’s causing. However, simply focusing on the present isn’t enough. This collection of 25 future-thinkers understand the importance of thinking about the next horizon and beyond. This can help ensure that the decisions we make today do not simply lay the foundation for a new set of problems tomorrow.”
“The aim of this book is to provide provocations that will take the public discourse beyond the current debate over testing strategies, PPE, and vaccination. We have to ensure that our response to the crisis also lays a path to a positive future. Our ambition is to provide individuals, leaders, and organisations with foresight, insight, visionary thinking, and navigational guidance on what lies ahead so we can collectively build a fairer, more inclusive future for all.”
The book will be introduced at a FREE all-day launch summit taking place on Monday 1 June 2020 from 10.00 to 22.00 BST, with 22 of the book’s contributors discussing the key ideas from their chapters. A single registration gives access to the entire summit which can be booked here.
Contributors include eminent global futurists Sohail Inayatullah (Malaysia), Liselotte Lyngsø (Denmark), David Wood (UK), Sylvia Gallusser (US), Tom Cheesewright (UK), Bronwyn Williams (SA), Professor Geoff Mulgan (UK), Sheila Moorcroft (UK), and Emmy Award nominee, Jeff Edling (US).
Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future is available as an eBook on PDF, epub, and .mobi files at the Fast Future website and on Amazon for US$12.95. Print issues will be available for US$15.95 from June 14, 2020.
Images, a full chapter and contributor list and biographies can be found at this dropbox link here
Fast Future is a research, insights, consulting, and executive education business. The company specializes in the use of foresight applied to explore the future of humanity, government and governance, the economy, business, key sectors, and exponentially advancing fields of science and technology. The company has a particular interest in the impacts of developments such as artificial intelligence, robotics, exponential technologies, and disruptive thinking. Through its work Fast Future explores how these emerging ideas and developments might impact life, society, nations, the planet, the future of work, and the creation of the trillion-dollar sectors of the future.
Through speeches, webinars, studies, and books Fast Future explores, experiments with, and creates powerful future ideas and scenarios. The intention is to deliver critical insights to the individuals, governments, businesses, and agencies that want to consider and create a better future. Fast Future’s books and newsletter provide insightful and thought-provoking content and profile the latest thinking of established and emerging futurists, foresight researchers, and future thinkers from around the world. The goal is to make those ideas accessible to the widest possible audience in the shortest possible time.
Fast Future has a particular focus on ensuring these advances are harnessed to unleash individual potential and enable a very human future. Fast Future’s books are designed to provide rapid insights into the emerging future with a collection of short, hard-hitting articles. These explore different trends, developments, forces, and ideas shaping the future and how we can respond in a manner that best serves humanity.
