Reading the Future: What Hamish McRae Gets Right About 2050

 

Review of the book "The World in 2050: How to Think About the Future by Hamish McRae"

Predicting the future is always risky, but Hamish McRae turns it into a thoughtful, disciplined, and surprisingly optimistic exercise. The World in 2050: How to Think About the Future is not a book about wild guesses or sci-fi dreams—it is a structured guide to understanding long-term forces that are already shaping our world today.

A Future Built on Today’s Deep Trends

McRae argues that to understand 2050, we must look at the “deep drivers” of change. These include:

• Demographics, especially ageing populations in wealthy countries and youthful momentum in parts of Asia and Africa.
• Climate and environment, not only as threats but also as engines of innovation.
• Technological revolutions, from AI to green energy.
• Global economic shifts, as power slowly moves from West to East.

What makes the book refreshing is McRae’s commitment to plausibility instead of hype. He avoids extreme scenarios and focuses on forces that already have momentum.

Optimism Without Naivety

Despite discussing major challenges—climate pressure, inequality, geopolitical tension—McRae is fundamentally optimistic. He believes:

• People innovate fastest when faced with real pressure.
• Technology and human adaptation can soften many of the worst outcomes.
• Society will—slowly but surely—move toward sustainability out of necessity.

This gives the book a hopeful tone, without denying real risks.

Clear Frameworks for Thinking Ahead

For readers interested in foresight, futures studies, and scenario building, McRae provides something very valuable:
a disciplined way to think about long-term change.

He encourages us to ask:

• What existing trends will remain strong?
• What forces are irreversible?
• Where will human choices matter most?

This aligns closely with futures literacy principles—understanding the future not to predict it precisely, but to make better decisions today.

A World of Cities, Connectivity, and Creativity

McRae’s vision of 2050 includes:

• Mega-cities becoming economic engines
• A world powered by clean energy
• Older societies relying on robotics and automation
• Cultural blending as education and travel become global
• Economies shaped more by creativity, services, and knowledge than by heavy industry

He is particularly good at describing how migration, education, and technology interact to shape national destinies.

Where the Book Excels

 Very clear explanations of complex forces
 Balanced optimism
 Useful mental models for anticipating change
 Strong attention to economics, demographics, and energy

Where It Might Feel Limited

 Less focus on cultural futures, identity politics, and social conflict
 Economic trends dominate more than technological disruption
 Lacks deep scenario exploration compared to futurists like Peter Schwartz or Alvin Toffler

Why This Book Matters

In a world overwhelmed by short-term noise, McRae reminds us to step back and look at the slow, structural forces that actually shape our future. For policymakers, entrepreneurs, educators, NGO leaders, and ordinary citizens, this book is a useful compass.

If you want a realistic, hopeful, and well-argued picture of the next 25 years—without doomsday fear or utopian fantasy—this is an excellent place to start.

A Timeless Guide to an Uncertain Tomorrow: Stoicism Meets Futures Literacy

 

It's tempting to think of Stoicism—the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius—as a strictly historical pursuit, focused on virtue, resilience, and acceptance. Yet, the core tenets of Stoicism offer a remarkably practical framework for navigating the modern challenge of Futures Literacy (FL). At its heart, FL is the capacity to use the future to rethink the present and diversify our actions. It's not about prediction; it's about being aware of how our unconscious assumptions about what will happen shape what we do right now.

The primary bridge between these two disciplines is the Dichotomy of Control. Stoicism urges us to focus our energy only on what is within our power—our judgments, our intentions, and our actions—while accepting external events as indifferent. This perfectly complements Futures Literacy. The future itself is the ultimate external, unpredictable realm. A Stoic knows that attempting to predict the single, correct future is a futile exercise guaranteed to cause distress. Instead, they would embrace the FL practice of exploring multiple futures (probable, preferable, and plausible) not to control the outcome, but to prepare the self.

For instance, the Stoic exercise of premeditation of evils (praemeditatio malorum) is a powerful FL tool. It involves vividly imagining worst-case scenarios—losing a job, suffering a setback, facing an illness. This isn't pessimism; it's a cognitive rehearsal that immunizes the mind against shock and allows for rational preparation. Similarly, an FL practitioner exploring a "reframed" future might ask, "What if the assumptions that built our current institution completely fail?" Both practices are designed to inoculate the present mind against the anxiety caused by an uncertain tomorrow, increasing resilience and flexibility.

Furthermore, Stoicism’s emphasis on virtue and rationality provides the ethical compass needed for effective Futures Literacy. When we explore preferable futures, we must ask: Preferable to whom, and based on what values? A Stoic answers that the ideal future must be one guided by reason, justice, and temperance. This foundation prevents the imaginative exploration of the future from devolving into mere wish fulfillment or self-serving fantasy, grounding it in robust ethical action.

Ultimately, both Stoicism and Futures Literacy empower the individual by shifting the locus of control inward. FL helps us become literate about our assumptions concerning the future; Stoicism teaches us to be master of our responses to that future, whatever it may bring. By combining the Stoic focus on inner preparedness with the FL skill of imaginative exploration, we gain a timeless guide for living well in an inherently uncertain world.

 

Doris Lessing: The Literary Precursor to Futures Literacy

 

It's fascinating to connect the powerful, restless fiction of Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing with the modern concept of Futures Literacy (FL)—the capability to better understand the role of the future in what we see and do. While FL is a contemporary framework, Lessing's entire literary career embodies its spirit, using the future as a lens to radically rethink the present.

Lessing was a master at deconstructing dominant narratives. Whether she was dissecting the rigid politics of the mid-20th century in works like The Golden Notebook or challenging gender roles, she consistently exposed the "imprisoning conceptions" and "rigid constructions" that limit human potential. This critique aligns perfectly with the core FL practice of escaping established, probable futures by challenging the fundamental assumptions we hold today. She showed us that the present is built on fragile, often prejudiced, beliefs, and only by confronting those beliefs can we open ourselves to different possible futures.

Her bold shift into speculative fiction with the Canopus in Argos: Archives series beautifully illustrates the FL principle of using the future to see the present anew. By viewing Earth (Shikasta) from an immense, cosmic distance, Lessing gained the necessary perspective to critique our self-destructive tendencies—greed, tribalism, and environmental carelessness. Post-apocalyptic visions like The Memoirs of a Survivor aren't just entertainment; they are cautionary tales that force the reader to examine the "failure of civilization" as an active process happening right now. This imaginative distance is the very engine of Futures Literacy.

Finally, Lessing's commitment to literary experimentation and her ability to hold "beliefs and ideas that are apparently contradictory" showcase her comfort with uncertainty and complexity. She recognized that the conventional forms of realism could no longer capture the sheer confusion and acceleration of modern life. Her restless style, which jumped genres and consciousness, mirrors the FL requirement to view uncertainty as a creative resource, not an obstacle to be avoided. Lessing was, fundamentally, teaching her readers how to think more complexly about change and the deep forces shaping the human condition.

Doris Lessing’s legacy lies not just in her masterful prose, but in her foresight—she gifted us a literary toolbox for navigating and understanding change long before we gave that capability the name "Futures Literacy."

 

The Foresight Lens: Jobs That Will Vanish by 2030 — and How to Stay Relevant

The year 2030 may sound distant, but in foresight terms it’s just around the corner. The world of work is transforming faster than any industrial revolution before — powered by artificial intelligence, automation, green transitions, and demographic change.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, almost a quarter of existing jobs could be disrupted by 2030 — with millions of roles vanishing, even as new ones emerge. Strategic foresight invites us not to fear this change, but to prepare for it.

 1. The Great Replacement: Automation and Algorithms

Jobs that rely on repetition, predictability, and precision are the first to go. Machines are now faster, cheaper, and often more accurate than humans in routine tasks.

Likely to disappear by 2030:

Data entry clerks

Payroll and administrative clerks

Receptionists

Cashiers and ticketing agents

Basic accounting and tax preparers

Automation and AI tools can already perform most of these tasks with near-zero error.

 2. The End of the Road: Driving Jobs Under Threat

Autonomous transport is no longer science fiction. Driverless trucks, drones, and ride-sharing algorithms are being tested worldwide.

At risk:

Taxi and e-hailing drivers

Delivery riders (replaced by drones and robot carts)

Long-haul truck drivers

Parking attendants

 3. Machines in the Factory, Humans on the Sideline

Factory floors are changing from sweat-driven to sensor-driven. Robots now assemble, weld, and package with minimal downtime.

Disappearing roles:

Assembly line workers

Packing and sorting staff

Quality inspection clerks

Basic machinists

Those who remain will be technicians, programmers, or robot operators — not manual laborers.

 4. The Quiet Fade of Paperwork

Clerical and back-office roles — once the backbone of corporate life — are being digitized away.

At high risk:

File clerks and office assistants

Customer service agents

Telemarketers

Insurance claims processors

Paralegal assistants (basic documentation tasks)

AI now reads, drafts, and summarizes documents faster than junior staff can type.

 

5. The Vanishing Voice: Telemarketing and Call Centres

With AI voice systems improving dramatically, repetitive call jobs are fading fast.

Likely to vanish:

Call centre agents

Outbound sales telemarketers

Basic tech-support operators

What remains will be relationship-based roles — those requiring empathy and complex problem solving.

6. The Other Side of the Story: New Jobs Emerging

Every disruption creates opportunity. By 2030, millions of new jobs will appear in:

Green energy and climate technology

AI management and ethics

Cybersecurity and data governance

Health and care services

Education and lifelong learning

Creative industries and digital storytelling

 7. What Strategic Foresight Teaches Us

Foresight isn’t prediction — it’s preparation. It asks: what if this trend continues, and how can we adapt before it’s too late?

The lesson is clear:

Learn adaptive skills (critical thinking, empathy, creativity).

Blend human + machine intelligence.

Stay curious.

Embrace lifelong learning.

 Final Reflection

2030 will not mark the end of work — but the end of one kind of work. The future belongs to those who can learn, unlearn, and relearn. Machines may take over the routine, but humanity’s greatest assets — compassion, imagination, and moral sense — will remain irreplaceable.

 

 

“Using the Future: Contributions to the Field of Foresight”. A Review

Review of the report “Using the Future: Contributions to the Field of Foresight”, published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS) — tailored to your deep interest in Futures Literacy and applied foresight in community and cooperative contexts

The report Using the Future explores how organisations can become “future-ready” — that is, not merely predicting the future but making future-conscious decisions as part of their strategic culture. It compiles reflections and contributions from a diverse group of futurists, foresight practitioners, and corporate strategists (including Joanna Lepore and Simon Fuglsang Østergaard).

Rather than being a technical manual, it reads as a collection of perspectives and prototypes on how foresight is currently being used — and how it might evolve into a more embedded organisational capability.

 Key Themes and Concepts

1. Future-Conscious Decision-Making

The report reframes foresight as more than scenario planning. It’s about shaping mindsets and structures that continuously integrate the long view into everyday decisions — turning the “use of the future” into a cognitive and cultural practice.

2. The Business of Foresight

One of the strongest sections examines how foresight operates within corporate environments — addressing issues like ROI, strategic relevance, and leadership engagement. It shows how foresight can move from peripheral “innovation exercises” to a core strategic asset.

3. Prototyping and Experimental Methods

Simon Østergaard introduces a “prototype stage” framework — an evolving methodology that makes foresight more accessible through participatory tools, provocations, and learning-by-doing. This experimental angle reflects CIFS’s continued effort to keep foresight practical and evolving.

4. Stories and Reflections from Practitioners

Rather than theory-heavy chapters, the report presents narrative insights — personal accounts and lessons learned from foresight implementation across different sectors. These vignettes highlight both success factors and recurring obstacles (such as internal resistance and the challenge of proving tangible value).

 

Contributions to the Field of Foresight

1. From Forecasting to Foresight Culture

The report’s most significant contribution is its shift from anticipating the future to using it — embedding futures thinking into decision-making systems, leadership language, and organisational culture. This aligns strongly with UNESCO’s Futures Literacy framework.

 2. Bridging Theory and Practice

It succeeds in showing foresight as a living, adaptive discipline — equally relevant to business, government, and education. The emphasis on practical “how-to” reflections bridges a gap often seen between academic futures research and corporate strategy.

3. Innovation in Foresight Methodology

By treating foresight as something that can be prototyped, CIFS adds a refreshing experimental layer to the field. This opens pathways for local adaptation and creativity, especially useful for contexts like cooperatives, NGOs, and small enterprises.

4. Expanding the Discourse on Value

The inclusion of the “business of foresight” reframes foresight from being an abstract intellectual pursuit to a value-creating process — capable of influencing investment, design, and organisational transformation.

 Strengths

Accessible yet profound: Written in an approachable tone while retaining conceptual depth.

Practical focus: Real-world examples make foresight tangible beyond academia.

Interdisciplinary insight: Combines corporate strategy, psychology, systems thinking, and futures studies.

Mindset emphasis: Prioritises cultural and behavioural change — not just tools or methods.

 

 Limitations and Areas for Further Development

Limited empirical grounding: The report relies on reflective essays rather than quantitative or case-study-based evidence.

Corporate bias: The business-centric framing may feel distant to public-sector, cooperative, or community audiences.

Western orientation: Cultural assumptions and language are Eurocentric — adaptation would be needed for Southeast Asian or Islamic contexts.

Prototype maturity: Some of the proposed models are still experimental and need further field testing.

 Implications and Applications

For practitioners like you — who work at the intersection of foresight, community development, and cooperative enterprise — the report offers several actionable takeaways:

1. Embedding Futures Literacy in Local Organisations:

You can adapt the “future-conscious decision” framework for cooperatives or NGOs — training teams to treat the future as an active learning partner.

2. Localising the Business of Foresight:

Translate corporate foresight concepts (ROI, strategic alignment, anticipation capability) into social or cooperative ROI — measuring long-term impact rather than profit.

3. Prototype and Learn:

Experiment with CIFS’s “prototype” mindset — design small foresight interventions (community dialogues, visual provocations, story-based scenarios) and refine them through iteration.

4. Bridge Tradition and Futures:

In your Wali Songo or Pulau Besar projects, the CIFS framework could inspire a chapter on “Future-Ready Heritage” — showing how cultural wisdom can inform modern futures thinking.

 Conclusion

Using the Future is not merely a report — it’s a call to evolve foresight into everyday practice. It shifts attention from predicting “what will happen” to empowering organisations and societies to “use the future” to shape the present.

For anyone working to cultivate futures literacy — especially in community, educational, or cooperative settings — this report provides both inspiration and structure. It reminds us that the real future is not something we wait for; it’s something we build through conscious, collective imagination.

The Sultan Who Fought the Future—and Tried to Shape It

 

Tipu Sultan, remembered as the Tiger of Mysore, was far more than a fierce ruler. Born around 1751 in Devanahalli near present-day Bengaluru, he was the son of Hyder Ali, a self-made military commander who rose to become the ruler of Mysore. When Tipu succeeded his father in 1782, he inherited a kingdom that was both dynamic and endangered—caught between regional rivals and the expanding ambitions of the British East India Company. For nearly two decades, Tipu Sultan resisted that expansion, modernised his state, and left behind a legacy that still sparks admiration and controversy.

He was one of the few Indian rulers of his time who grasped how technology could reshape the future. His most famous innovation, the iron-cased Mysorean rocket, was a small, portable weapon that could terrorise British forces from afar. These rockets, later studied and adapted by the British after his death, represent one of the earliest examples of industrial warfare in South Asia. He commissioned the Fathul Mujahidin, a military manual, and sought to reorganise his army along modern lines, working closely with French advisers. In an age when kingdoms still relied on traditional cavalry and elephants, Tipu’s scientific curiosity and appetite for new tools were striking.

His foresight extended beyond the battlefield. Tipu Sultan introduced new coinage, a lunar-solar “Mauludi” calendar, and a reformed system of land revenue. He promoted sericulture and built state factories for textiles, weapons, and ships. By controlling key exports like sandalwood and pepper, and by establishing trading depots as far as Muscat and Karachi, he attempted to turn Mysore into an economically self-reliant, globally connected state. Many of these policies were decades ahead of their time—an early form of state-driven industrialisation designed to strengthen sovereignty.

Tipu also tried to imagine alternate geopolitical futures. He reached out to the French, the Ottomans, and even the Afghans to form alliances that could counter British dominance. His letters reveal an awareness of global power shifts and an understanding that survival required cooperation among Asian powers. In this sense, Tipu Sultan was practicing a kind of 18th-century diplomacy rooted in foresight—seeking not just to preserve his kingdom but to shape the balance of power in the region.

Yet his reign remains deeply polarising. To some, Tipu Sultan is a hero—a martyr of anti-colonial resistance who died defending his capital at Seringapatam in 1799. To others, particularly those relying on British colonial records, he appears as a harsh and intolerant ruler who imposed his will on conquered populations. The truth, as with most powerful figures, likely lies between these extremes. His efforts to modernise and centralise power were revolutionary but disruptive; his vision of a strong, unified Mysore clashed with entrenched interests and colonial ambitions alike.

What makes Tipu Sultan fascinating through the lens of Futures Literacy is how consciously he tried to anticipate change. His adoption of new technologies, his global alliances, and his industrial experiments were all responses to what foresight practitioners today might call “weak signals” of transformation—the rise of global trade, the industrialisation of warfare, and the encroachment of European capitalism. Using frameworks like Sohail Inayatullah’s Futures Triangle, one can see how Tipu Sultan’s actions pulled toward a future of independence and innovation, pushed by the pressures of colonial expansion, and constrained by the weight of his inherited traditions.

Even his symbolic choices reveal a futures-oriented imagination. His emblem, the tiger, was not merely a royal motif—it was a metaphor for courage, defiance, and self-determination. The mechanical “Tipu’s Tiger,” an automaton depicting a tiger attacking a European soldier, stands today in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as both a relic of power and a metaphor for the struggle between worlds. In its eerie mechanical growl lies the echo of a ruler who dared to imagine that India’s destiny could be self-defined.

Visiting Srirangapatna today, one can still sense the residue of that imagination. The fortress, the summer palace, and the tomb of Tipu Sultan are not just monuments to a past era; they are reminders of a moment when the future of India could have unfolded very differently. For travellers and thinkers alike, Tipu Sultan’s Mysore invites reflection on how foresight, innovation, and courage can challenge the inevitability of empire.

In a world still grappling with questions of sovereignty, technology, and global power, Tipu Sultan’s story feels surprisingly contemporary. He lived in an age of upheaval but refused to accept decline as destiny. His rockets, reforms, and alliances were not simply acts of resistance—they were acts of anticipation. And in that sense, the Tiger of Mysore was not only a man of his time but a visionary reaching for the future.