5 Comments
User's avatar
Susan Cox-Smith's avatar

Can't stand Webb and her "quantitative futures," so thank you for this. My comment on futurists like this is always: If someone says "in the future you will..." they're selling something. In her case, it's her latest consulting vehicle.

Swag Valance's avatar

She needs to read Maggie Jackson's book.

The main problem I had with the likes of Sam Altman and company is their futures cone was described as a single line. That betrays a deterministic desire, not an evolving potential within an interconnected, complex ladder of adjacent possibles.

Johannes Kleske's avatar

Thanks for the pointer (Uncertain, right?)!

Swag Valance's avatar

Yes sir!

I don't blame her for projecting the determinism people want to hear under uncertainty. This is how populism works. But the right answer isn't to pretend the uncertainty doesn't exist, it's to learn to become comfortable with emerging optionality and, often, what might seem like chaos.

Michael Dekner's avatar

I love the quote about press releases!