Using the Future: A Guide to Thinking Beyond Today

 

Comment and Review: Using the Future by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS) has long been a thought leader in foresight, but Using the Future stands out as one of its most accessible and practical publications. The report takes the abstract idea of “the future” and reframes it as something not distant or mystical, but as a tool we already use every day. Its central claim is disarmingly simple: whenever we make decisions—whether to take an umbrella based on a weather forecast, or to invest in a new business model—we are “using the future.” The challenge, then, is to become more deliberate and less biased in how we use it.

Strengths of the Report

1. Clear Vocabulary of Futures Thinking
   The glossary provided is a strength in itself. It untangles jargon—futures literacy, foresight, backcasting, wild cards, megatrends—and places them in plain, usable terms. For a blog audience, this makes futures studies less like an academic ivory tower and more like a set of tools for everyday strategy.
2. Integration of Psychology and Behavioural Insights
   By drawing on Daniel Kahneman and behavioural economics, the report grounds futures work in the realities of human decision-making. The exploration of status quo bias, confirmation bias, and optimism bias makes a strong case for why foresight work must go beyond spreadsheets—it must tackle human blind spots.
3. Timely Emphasis on Wild Cards and Black Swans
   COVID-19, climate shocks, and geopolitical volatility make this discussion highly relevant. The report wisely points out that the value of considering wild cards is not prediction, but resilience-testing—asking whether organisations could still thrive if the unimaginable occurred.
4. Democratising the Future
   Perhaps the most important shift is the call to make futures thinking more inclusive. By highlighting futures literacy as a capability for all, not just strategists or policymakers, CIFS positions foresight as a civic tool. The sections on participatory futures and decolonising futures resonate strongly in an age where old narratives are being challenged globally.

Critical Reflections

• A Corporate Bias Remains: Despite its call for “futures for the people,” the report still leans heavily toward organisational and governmental applications. Readers hoping for more grassroots-level methods—how individuals or communities can practically “use the future”—may find these sections underdeveloped.
• Technology Optimism vs. Caution: The discussion on AI-augmented foresight is both exciting and slightly naïve. While AI can indeed scan vast data, the report risks overstating its neutrality. Algorithms too are shaped by biases, and the future of foresight will need critical interrogation of these tools as much as enthusiastic adoption.
• Limited Engagement with Ethics: Although the report touches on “decolonising futures,” ethical dimensions could be more deeply examined. Who gets to define “preferred futures”? How do power structures shape the futures we imagine? These questions are raised but not fully wrestled with.

Why This Matters for Today

The report is particularly relevant now, when uncertainty feels like the new normal. From pandemics to AI disruptions, we are constantly confronted with futures arriving faster than expected. CIFS reminds us that uncertainty is not only a risk but also a resource. By embracing uncertainty—rather than fearing or ignoring it—we can make decisions that are not only resilient but also imaginative.

Using the Future is both a primer and a provocation. For beginners, it demystifies futures thinking; for practitioners, it offers reminders to expand beyond corporate boardrooms and engage the wider public. Its greatest contribution lies in urging us to treat the future not as a distant inevitability but as an everyday practice.