Signal Spotting

At our May meetup we admired the work of Jane McGonigal and her book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything, Even Things that Seem Impossible Today. One of the core skills McGonigal encourages is Future Signal spotting. You do this by becoming more sensitive to signals of change. These are small signs or early indicators of potential future trends, innovations, behaviors, or changes. They are happening now—on the fringes—but they could become more widespread or impactful over time. These signals help us stretch our imagination and notice possibilities before they go mainstream.

"Futurists collect, combine, and build future scenarios out of clues to how the future might be different." (p. 109)

"You know you've found a signal if you can tell a story about it-- a who, what, where, when why." (p.111)

We worked in two breakout rooms to collect, share, and extrapolate on the signals we could quickly collect. (spoiler alert: it is difficult to spot signals on demand!)

Step 1, as McGonigal describes it, is to notice new strange things in the world. She says to start with curiosity, wonder why and pay closer attention.

Some of the signals we spotted were very different from each other: people are getting very creative with making new materials, the effect of inhibitors on the way people think about restaurants, and the communities that form when people learn skilled crafts (sometimes at adult summer camps!).

Additional signals include the Live Near Friends agency that helps people buy houses in close proximity to each other; again artisanal crafts people come up; and the positive and negative effects of gaming.

More signals include: dopamine fasting as a biohack -- could it soon be regulated? Urban, inter-generational housing. And the first credit card to connect purchases to your carbon footprint.

After swapping signals, the next step is to play and imagine what they could become. Mashing them up together for inspiration too.

We had a brief amount of time to ask, What if this signal becomes the norm? What could daily life look like?