What happens when a futurist and a biotech researcher sit down and realize they're both screaming at clouds about the same thing?
Bronwyn Williams reads the future in South Africa's live policy experiments - universal basic income, ESG, diversity initiatives - watching what the West is about to try, seeing where it breaks. Michael Kinch reads it in history and data - vaccines, incentives, public trust - watching what we've learned and what we keep forgetting anyway.
You might think this is about predictions, but it's about having both the understanding and humility of what might work and what probably won't. There's a core idea here of the importance of treating adults like adults. When we're treating people like children, instead of adults, and incentivizing obedience instead of building trust, or claiming values we're not prepared to defend, trust unravels fast and in complex ways.
I wanted to introduce Bronwyn to Michael because they're both Cassandras in their own right. They've been right, they've been unheeded, and they haven't given up. They're both optimists, to the core, and they just want to talk about what they've learned, and how to help.
This is a conversation about cycles, unintended consequences, and the gap between what we see coming and what anyone's willing to do about it. It's also - if you listen close - a conversation about hope.
