"1st RULE: You do not talk about predicting the future..."

– Denise Worrell, Futurist

Three years of studies and many hours of work culminated last week with my graduation from the University of Houston with my Master of Science in Foresight.

The frameworks and tools of foresight help us confidently navigate increasingly complicated trends and rapid technological change toward futures we prefer. Foresight simultaneously prepares contingencies for changes that we do not prefer.

I am grateful for my wife Amanda, my family, and friends along with the amazing cohort of fellow students who added dynamic life experience to our program. Without that support this achievement would not be possible.

I've spread my education strategically over three decades and this graduate degree provides a level of mastery I appreciate and look forward to exercising. I am excited to refocus on the Institute for Economic Evolution and to relaunch my consultancy over the coming months.

Foresight’s Foundation for a Design Economics Framework

University of Houston Foresight Blog

The following Houston Foresight blog entry is a foresight-centered look at my Design Economics Framework, published last summer in the World Futures journal.

Excerpt: Late-stage capitalism, post-neoliberalism, nation-state validity, and the general scanning of and exploration for what may come “after capitalism” is a common thread throughout the academic and popular discourse in the futures field and community. While foresight tends to avoid predictive futures over perceiving probable futures, the field has several tools well suited for externally disrupting the orthodoxy in economics.

My work over the past 12 years has been focused on taking economics beyond the limited neoliberal paradigm of the past 40 years and the inadequacy of GDP’s nearly century-long cultural dominion over human welfare. During my tenure in the Houston Foresight program, I’ve learned to use frameworks to take my often intangible and esoteric ideas and make them tangible and relatable to others. In fact, soon after starting, I would tell people that “I am earning a graduate degree in getting ideas out of my head in a format people could understand.”

Continue reading on the Foresight blog >>

If you know publications or websites where I can publish versions of this tailored for their audience, please let me know.

The opening quote above from fellow alum, Denise Worrell, was part of her eight rules of Foresight Club, an entertaining "Fight Club" take on the principles of foresight.

Thank you for taking the time to read and please share with anyone you feel may find this interesting. Have a great weekend!

Gratefully,

Vinny Tafuro

Visionary. Futurist. Economist.

"I see distant horizons clearly and work meticulously towards them."

Institute for Economic Evolution, Founder

813.240.0739

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