The Futures Lens looks at technology, culture, and society through the perspective of a critical futurist.

I’m Johannes Kleske. I work as a keynote speaker and foresight researcher in Berlin. I have a master’s in futures studies and have spent over a decade researching how future narratives shape present-day decisions.

This newsletter is where I think out loud. I write about the stories we tell ourselves about the future and what they reveal about the present. About why the same predictions keep repeating. About science fiction shaping the technology we build. About the difference between predicting the future and understanding the forces that shape it. Sometimes that’s a long essay, sometimes a braindump of what I’ve been thinking about.

This newsletter is for you if you’re curious about where technology and society are heading but skeptical of anyone who claims to know. If you want context and history over hot takes. If you’d rather understand the patterns than chase the predictions.