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Rebecca Ryan, APF
Rebecca Ryan, APF

Signals of the future are all around us.

What's a signal?

The photo above is an example. It was the first mask I saw lying as litter in my neighborhood in 2020. It made me wonder if we'd see more thrown-away masks in the future.

In futurist-speak, I wondered if this mask was a weak signal of the future.

A weak signal is:

  • Any observation that is surprising, amusing, ridiculous, or annoying. Novelty can be a sign of emergence.
  • Any observation that tells about change and makes sense to you, e.g. observations that convince you something is increasing or decreasing.

Learn more about signals here and here.

We publish signals regularly. Subscribe in the link below.


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Rebecca Ryan, APF
Rebecca Ryan, APF

Rebecca Ryan captains the ship. Trained as a futurist and an economist, Rebecca helps clients see what's coming - as a keynote speaker, a Futures Lab facilitator, an author of books, blogs and articles, a client advisor, and the founder of Futurist Camp. Check out her blog or contact Lisa Loniello for more information.

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