Category Archives: Government

We Must Prepare for Future Crises Like We Prepare for War

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

In a 2015 TED talk, Bill Gates warned that “if anything kills ten million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes.” He went on to point out that we have invested enormous amounts of money in nuclear deterrents, but relatively little to battle epidemics.

It’s an apt point. In the US, we enthusiastically spend nearly $700 billion on our military, but cut corners on nearly everything else. Major breakthroughs, such as GPS satellites, the Internet and transistors, are merely offshoots of budgets intended to help us fight wars more effectively. At the same time, politicians gleefully propose budget cuts to the NIH.

A crisis, in one sense, is like anything else. It eventually ends and, when it does, we hope to be wiser for it. No one knows how long this epidemic will last or what the impact will be, but one thing is for sure — it will not be our last crisis. We should treat this as a new Sputnik moment and prepare for the next crisis with the same vigor with which we prepare for war.

Getting Artificial Intelligence Under Control

In the Terminator series, an automated defense system called Skynet becomes “self aware” and launches a nuclear attack to end humanity. Machines called “cyborgs” are created to hunt down the survivors that remain. Clearly it is an apocalyptic vision. Not completely out of the realm of possibility, but very unlikely.

The dangers of artificial intelligence, however, are very real, although not nearly so dramatic. Four years ago, in 2016, I published an article in Harvard Business Review outlining the ethical issues we need to address, ranging from long standing thought experiments like the trolley problem to issues surrounding accountability for automated decisions.

Unlike the Terminator scenario, these issues are clear and present. Consider the problem of data bias. Increasingly, algorithms determine what college we attend, if we get hired for a job and even who goes to prison and for how long. Unlike human decisions, these mathematical models are rarely questioned, but affect materially people’s lives.

The truth is that we need our algorithms to be explainable, auditable and transparent. Just because the possibility of our machines turning on us is fairly remote, doesn’t mean we don’t need too address more subtle, but all to real, dangers. We should build our systems to serve humanity, not the other way around.

The Slow-Moving Climate Crisis

Climate change is an issue that seems distant and political. To most people, basic needs like driving to work, heating their homes and doing basic household chores are much more top of mind than the abstract dangers of a warming planet. Yet the perils of climate change are, in fact, very clear and present.

Consider that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that, since 1980, there have been at least 258 weather and climate disasters where overall damages reached or exceeded $1 billion and that the total cost of these events has been more than $1.7 trillion. That’s an enormous amount of money.

Yet it pales in comparison to what we can expect in the future. A 2018 climate assessment published by the US government warned that we can expect climate change to “increasingly affect our trade and economy, including import and export prices and U.S. businesses with overseas operations and supply chains,” and had similar concerns with regard to our health, safety and quality of life.

There have been, of course, some efforts to slow the increase of carbon in our atmosphere that causes climate change such as the Paris Climate Agreement. However, these efforts are merely down payments to stem the crisis and, in any case, few countries are actually meeting their Paris targets. The US pulled out of the accord entirely.

The Debt Time Bomb

The US national debt today stands at about 23.5 trillion dollars or roughly 110% of GDP. That’s a very large, but not catastrophic number. The deficit in 2020 was expected to be roughly $1 trillion, or about four percent of GDP, but with the impact of the Coronavirus, we can expect it to be at least two to three times that now.

Considering that the economy of the United States grows at about two percent a year on average, any deficit above that level is unsustainable. Clearly, we are far beyond that now and, with baby boomers beginning to retire in massive numbers, Medicare spending is set to explode. At some point, these bills will have to be paid.

Yet focusing solely on financial debt misses a big part of the picture. Not only have we been overspending and under-taxing, we’ve also been massively under investing. Consider that the American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that we need to spend $4.5 trillion to repair our broken infrastructure. Add that infrastructure debt to our financial and environmental debt it likely adds up to $30-$40 trillion, or roughly 150%-200% of GDP.

Much like the dangers of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis, not to mention the other inevitable crises like the new pandemics that are sure to come, we will eventually have to pay our debts. The only question is how long we want to allow the interest to pile up.

The Visceral Abstract

Some years ago, I wrote about a concept I called the visceral abstract. We often fail to realize how obscure concepts affect our daily lives. The strange theories of quantum mechanics, for example, make modern electronics possible. Einstein’s relativity helps calibrate our GPS satellites. Darwin’s natural selection helps us understand diseases like the Coronavirus.

In much the same way, we find it easy to ignore dangers that don’t seem clear and present. Terminator machines hunting us down in the streets is terrifying, but the very real dangers of data bias in our artificial intelligence systems is easy to dismiss. We worry how to pay the mortgage next month, but the other debts mounting fade into the background.

The news isn’t all bad, of course. Clearly, the Internet has made it far easier to cope with social distancing. Technologies such as gene sequencing and supercomputing simulations make it more likely that we will find a cure or a vaccine. We have the capacity for both petty foolishness and extreme brilliance.

The future is not inevitable. It is what we make it. We can choose, as we have in the past, to invest in our ability to withstand crises and mitigate their effects, or we can choose to sit idly by and give ourselves up to the whims of fate. We pay the price either way. How we pay it is up to us.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

How COVID-19 Has Exposed Us

Leave a reply

How COVID-19 Has Exposed Us

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

The moon landing in 1969 was, in many ways, the high point of the American century. Since then, we’ve been beset by scandals like Watergate, Iran-Contra and two presidential impeachments, mired in never-ending wars that we don’t win, while increasingly encumbered by rising debts and income inequality amid falling productivity growth. Incomes have stagnated while education and healthcare costs have soared.

Yet in an essay written back in February, just before the Covid-19 crisis, Ross Douthat wrote that these apparent woes are actually signs of success. In effect, he argued that we lack major technological breakthroughs because we become so technologically advanced, and we lack economic progress because we’ve become so prosperous.

Even then, it was a strange and somewhat maddening position to take. Why would Douthat, an intelligent and insightful man, write such things? Because he so wanted to believe them that he went in search for facts to support them. Many of us have been doing the same. Yet the Covid-19 crisis has unmasked us and it’s time to start facing up to the truth.

A Failed Market Revolution

In 1954, the eminent economist Paul Samuelson, came across an obscure dissertation written by a French graduate student named Louis Bachelier around the turn of the century. The paper, which anticipated Einstein’s later breakthrough on Brownian motion, declared somewhat innocently that “the mathematical expectation of the speculator is zero.”

Samuelson’s discovery launched a revolution in mathematical finance models based on on Bachelier’s assumption, including the Efficient Market Hypothesis, portfolio theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Black-Scholes model. The underlying assumption was that markets were rational, and risk could be quantified and managed effectively.

The flaws in these models should have been obvious even at the time and some, including the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, pointed out that markets were far more volatile than the financial engineering models predicted. Nevertheless, policymakers chose to ignore the warnings and put their faith in the “magic of the market.”

Probably the biggest failure of market fundamentalism is that, as economist Thomas Philippon points out in his book The Great Reversal, over the past 40 years markets in the United States have become significantly weaker. In a similar vein, a study published in Harvard Business Review that examined 893 industries found that two thirds had become more concentrated.

The truth is that we’ve chosen weaker markets and less competition, which has led to less dynamism and innovation. That’s no accident.

Digital Disruption

In Regional Advantage, AnnaLee Saxenian describes how Silicon Valley replaced Boston’s “Technology Highway” as the center of the digital universe. While Boston was corporate and hierarchical, Silicon Valley was freewheeling and networked. The Silicon Valley ethos was very much the counterculture.

So, it was no accident that when Steve Jobs flew to New York to recruit John Sculley, who was at the time President of Pepsi, to lead Apple he asked him,”Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?” The implication being that selling computers was a higher calling than selling soft drinks.

That was nearly 40 years ago and while the Covid-19 crisis has certainly highlighted some benefits of digital technology, such as cheap and effective teleconferencing, it’s also become clear that the digital revolution has largely been a disappointment. Productivity growth, except for a relatively brief period in the late nineties and early aughts, has been depressed since the 1970s.

Compare the iPhone to the breakthroughs of the mid-twentieth century, such as Bell Lab’s transistor, Boeing’s 707 and IBM’s 360 and it becomes clear that while digital technology has done much to disrupt industries, it’s done relatively little to create significant new value, at least in comparison to earlier technologies.

The Uncertain Promise of Globalization

The aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall was a time of great optimism. With the Cold War over, books like Francis Fukayama’s The End of History predicted a capitalist, democratic utopia in which free markets would conquer the world making everyone more prosperous. Those that refused to reform would be unable to compete.

While there were genuine achievements, especially in lifting up the world’s poorest, it’s hard to see how globalization has made us significantly better off. In fact, rather than the triumph of freedom, we’ve seen a global rise in populist authoritarian movements, the polar opposite of what intellectuals like Fukayama predicted.

In the United States, the situation has become especially dire. Social mobility and life expectancy in the white working class are declining, while anxiety and depression are rising to epidemic levels. While wages have stagnated, the cost of healthcare and education has soared, squeezing the middle class. Income inequality is at its highest level in 50 years.

So, while it’s true that there have been real benefits from globalization, such as curbing inflation, we’ve done little to mitigate the costs to the average citizen. That didn’t just happen but was the result of choices that we made.

We Need to Choose Resilience and Grand Challenges Over Output and Disruption

The Covid-19 crisis has unmasked us. We thought that markets, technology and globalization would save us, that we could just set up some sensible rules of the road and everything would run on autopilot. That’s clearly untrue. We took short-term profits while ignoring long-term costs, loaded up on debt and hoped for the best.

The current crisis has followed the same pattern. We simply failed to prepare for known risks because it seemed expedient not to. George Bush warned about the possibility of a pandemic as did his Health and Human Services Secretary. Jay Leno mocked them. The Obama administration set up a step-by-step playbook and it was ignored. The long list of failures goes on.

Yet we don’t have to be victims of our failed choices. We can learn to make better ones. After the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, we embarked on a 70-year productivity boom. Out of the ashes of World War II, we built a new era of peace and prosperity that was unprecedented in world history. We can do so again. We have that power.

New technologies, under development as we speak, will likely give us the power to cure cancer, create clean energy, save the environment and colonize space. We can rebuild the middle class, usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, increase life expectancy while improving quality of life. These are all things we may be able to achieve in the next decade or two.

Yet those possibilities are merely potential that we can succeed or fail to actualize. We can, as we did after World War II, choose to invest in the future and tackle grand challenges. We can build new infrastructure, spawn new industries and create an educated workforce. Or we can, as we did after the end of the Cold War, choose disruption over construction.

What’s clear is that nothing is inevitable. The digital revolution didn’t have to be a dud. The Great Recession didn’t have to happen. The Covid-19 Pandemic could have been, at the very least, greatly mitigated. We are responsible for the choices we make. Now is the time to shoot for the moon (and Mars), not to grade ourselves on a curve.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Why Revolutions Fail

Leave a reply

Why Revolutions Fail

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

I still remember the feeling of triumph I felt in the winter of 2005, in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. During the fall, we readied ourselves for what proved to be a falsified election. In November, when the fraudulent results were announced, we took to the streets and the demonstrations lasted until new elections were called in January.

We had won, or so we thought. Our preferred candidate was elected and it seemed like a new era had dawned. Yet soon it became clear that things were not going well. Planned reforms stalled in a morass of corruption and incompetence. In 2010, Victor Yanukovych, the same man we marched against, rose to the presidency.

The pattern repeats with almost metronomic regularity. Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted in the Arab Spring, only to be replaced by the equally authoritarian Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. George W. Bush gave way to Barack Obama, who set the stage for Donald Trump. Revolutions sow the seeds for their own demise. We need to learn to break the cycle.

The Physics Of Change And The Power Of Shared Values

In Rules for Radicals, the legendary activist Saul Alinsky observed that every revolution inspires a counterrevolution. That is the physics of change. Every action provokes a reaction because, if an idea is important, it threatens the status quo, which never yields its power gracefully. If you seek to make change in the world, you can be sure that some people aren’t going to like it and will fight against it.

For example, President Bush’s support for a “Defense of Marriage Act” inspired then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to unilaterally begin performing weddings for gay and lesbian couples at City Hall, in what was termed the Winter of Love. 4,027 couples were married before their nuptials were annulled by the California Supreme Court a month later.

The backlash was fierce. Conservative groups swung into action to defend the “sanctity of marriage” and in 2008 were successful in placing Proposition 8, an amendment to the California Constitution that prohibited gay marriage, on the ballot. It was passed with a narrow majority of 52% of the electorate which, only further galvanized LGBTQ activists and led, eventually, to legalized gay marriage.

In our work helping organizations drive transformation, we find similar dynamics at play. Corporate revolutionaries tend to assume that once they get their budget approved or receive executive sponsorship, everything will go smoothly. The reality is that’s the point when things often get bogged down, because those who oppose change see that it has actually become possible and redouble their efforts to undermine it.

The Differentiation Trap

Many revolutionaries, corporate and otherwise, are frustrated marketers. They want to differentiate themselves in the marketplace of ideas through catchy slogans that “cut through.” It is by emphasizing difference that they seek to gin up enthusiasm among their most loyal supporters.

That was certainly true of LGBTQ activists, who marched through city streets shouting slogans like “We’re here, we’re queer and we’d like to say hello.” They led a different lifestyle and wanted to demand that their dignity be recognized. More recently, Black Lives Matter activists made calls to “defund the police,” which many found to be shocking and anarchistic.

Corporate change agents tend to fall into a similar trap. They rant on about “radical” innovation and “disruption,” ignoring the fact that few like to be radicalized or disrupted. Proponents of agile development methods often tout their manifesto, ignoring the fact many outside the agile community find the whole thing a bit weird and unsettling.

While emphasizing difference may excite people who are already on board, it is through shared values that you bring people in. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the fight for LGBTQ rights began to gain traction when activists started focusing on family values. Innovation doesn’t succeed because it’s “radical,” but when it solves a meaningful problem. The value of Agile methods isn’t a manifesto, but the fact that they can improve performance.

Learning To Love Your Haters

Once you understand that shared values are key to driving change forward, it becomes clear that those who oppose the change you seek can help break the cycle of revolution and counter-revolution and beginning to drive change forward. That’s why you need to learn to love your haters.

By listening to people who hate your idea you can identify early flaws and fix them before it’s too late. Yet even more importantly they can help you identify shared values because they are trying to persuade many of the same people you are. Often, if not always, you can use their own arguments against them.

That’s exactly what happened in the fight for LGBTQ rights. The central argument against the movement was that the gay lifestyle was a threat to family values. So it was no accident that it prevailed on the basis of living in committed relationships and raising happy families. In a similar way, Black Lives Matter activists would do much better focusing on the shared value of safe neighborhoods that in a crusade against police officers.

To be clear, listening to your opposition doesn’t mean engaging directly with them. That’s a mistake Barack Obama made far too often. He would appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News, only to be ridiculed as soon as he was off camera. He would have been much better off watching at home and using the bombastic TV host’s remarks for his own purposes.

Achieving Schwerpunkt

In the final analysis, the reason that most would-be revolutionaries fail is that they assume that the righteousness of their cause will save them. It will not. Injustice, inequity and ineffectiveness can thrive for decades and even centuries, far longer than a human lifespan. If you think that your idea will prevail simply because you believe in it you will be sorely disappointed.

Tough, important battles can only be won with good tactics, which is why successful change agents learn how to adopt the principle of Schwerpunkt. The idea is that instead of trying to defeat your enemy with overwhelming force generally, you want to deliver overwhelming force and win a decisive victory at a particular point of attack.

Thurgood Marshall did not seek to integrate all schools, at least not at first. He started with graduate schools, where the “separate but equal” argument was most vulnerable. More recently, Stop Hate For Profit attacked Facebook not by asking users to boycott, but focused on advertisers, who themselves were vulnerable to activist action.

Yet Schwerpunkt is a dynamic, not a static concept. You have to constantly innovate your approach as your opposition adapts to whatever success you may achieve. For example, the civil rights movement had its first successes with boycotts, but eventually moved on to sit-ins, “Freedom Rides,” community actions and eventually, mass marches.

The key to success wasn’t any particular tactic, leader or slogan but strategic flexibility. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most movements lack. All too often they get caught up in a strategy and double down, because it feels good to believe in something, even if it’s a failure. They would rather make a point than make a real difference.

Successful revolutionaries, on the other hand, understand that power will not fall simply because you oppose it, but it will crumble if you bring those who support it over to your side. That’s why lasting change is always built on the common ground of shared values.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Building a Learn It All Culture

2 Replies

Don’t Be a Know It All

Building a Learn It All Culture

by Braden Kelley

Trying to be a “know-it-all” is a flawed goal.

It is impossible to know everything.

This is by design.

This is by intention.

In much the same way that programming languages have garbage collection built in, the human brain is built to prune. The human brain is built to forget more than it remembers. Instead of trying to override our natural tendencies, we must embrace them and see instead see how they empower us to be continuous learners.

“Garbage collection is the process in which programs try to free up memory space that is no longer used by objects.” — FreeCodeCamp

Where Insights Come From by Braden Kelley

And while knowledge is important, it is perishable, it is transitory, and it is not the highest aspiration.

An understanding of data allows the creation of information
The consumption of information allows the creation of knowledge
The exploration of knowledge allows the creation of insight
The connections between insights allow the creation of wisdom

Curiosity fuels the transformation of data and information into insights and wisdom, while knowledge funnel progression is driven by a quest for efficiency.

Knowledge Funnel

The knowledge funnel is a useful concept learned from Roger Martin in the Design of Business. The concept highlights how any new area creating information (and hopefully knowledge) starts very much as a mystery, but as our understanding of the topic area increases, we begin to identify heuristics and make sense of it. For me, this is where we begin to move from data and information to knowledge, and then as our knowledge increases we are able to codify this knowledge into algorithms.

Importance of Curiosity to a Learn It All Culture

If you want to build a learn-it-all culture, it all starts with curiosity. Curiosity leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to learning. The achievement of insights is the ideal outcome for learning pursuits, and insights power innovation.

I’ve been writing about the importance of curiosity and its role in innovation since 2011 or before.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein

At an event I attended in New York City in 2011, Peter Diamandis of the XPRIZE Foundation talked about how for him the link between curiosity and innovation is the following:

“What should be possible that doesn’t yet exist?”

In my article Key to Innovation Success Revealed!, on the topic of curiosity I wrote:

The reason that curiosity is the secret to innovation success is that the absence of curiosity leads to acceptance and comfort in the status quo. The absence of curiosity leads to complacency (one of the enemies of innovation) and when organizations (or societies) become complacent or comfortable, they usually get run over from behind. When organizations or societies lack curiosity, they struggle to innovate. Curiosity causes people to ask ‘Why’ questions and ‘What if’ questions. Curiosity leads to inspiration. Inspiration leads to insight. Insights lead to ideas. And in a company or society where invention, collaboration and entrepreneurship knowledge, skills, abilities and practice are encouraged, ideas lead to action.

Five Keys to Building a Learn It All Culture

Change is the one constant, and it is continuous. If it wasn’t, all of us would still be hunting animals and collecting berries. Embracing continuous change and transformation allows us to accelerate our understanding of the universe and how our organizations can serve their missions more effectively and efficiently. Continuous change requires continuous learning. To prepare our people and our organization to succeed at continuous learning we need to do these five things:

1. Develop Good Learning Hygiene

Learning is a skill. To build an organization of continuous or lifelong learners, we must first help people learn how to learn. Two of the most important learning skills that we are not taught how to do in school, but that are crucial for success at innovation and other modern pursuits are the following:

Deep Thinking — Few of us are good at deep thinking and as a result, deep learning. Getting people to put all of their devices away is the initial challenge. Feeling comfortable not knowing the answer and sitting at a table with nothing more than a blank piece of paper is really hard. Teaching people how to meditate beforehand can be quite helpful. The goal of course is to get people into the state of mind that allows them to think deeply and capture their idea fragments, nuggets of inquiry and micro-inspirations. This will provide the fuel for collaboration and co-creation and the next key learning skill.

Augmented Learning — We live during amazing times, where if we don’t know something we can Google it or ask Siri, Cortana or Alexa. All of the assistants and search engines available to us, serve to quickly augment our human knowledge, skills and abilities. Knowing how to build good search queries is an incredibly powerful life skill. Teach it.

2. Reinforce Growth Mindset Behaviors

There has been much chatter about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. It’s not really a new concept, but instead modern packaging for the level of maturity shown by those successful professionals who are willing to say:

“I don’t know.” and “Let me find out.” and “Failure is an opportunity to learn.”

Two ways organizations can demonstrate their commitment to a growth mindset are to:

Celebrate Failure — Create events or other ways to share some of the most important failures of the month or quarter, and what was learned from each.
Fund Curiosity — If you’re hiring curious people with a growth mindset, then every employee will be curious about something. Find a way to fund their investigation and exploration of what they’re curious about – even if it is not work-related. This is a great way of demonstrating the importance of curiosity to innovation and your commitment to it.

3. Make Unlearning Socially Acceptable

We all want to be the expert, and we work hard to achieve mastery. Meaning, often we hold on too tightly as new solutions emerge. And, to adopt new ways of solving old problems, often we have to unlearn what we think we know before we can learn the new ways. Smart organizations constantly challenge what they think they know about their customers, potential partners, product-market-fit, and even where future competition might come from.

4. Flex Your Reskilling and Retraining Muscles

With the accelerating pace of change, the organizations and even the countries that invest in reskilling and retaining their employees (or citizens) are the organizations and economies that stand the best chance of continued success. As more organizations commit to being purpose-driven organizations, the costs of recruitment actually increase, making it even more important to keep the employees you attract and to reskill and retrain them as your needs change. Especially as the pace of automation also increases…

5. Create Portable Not Proprietary Knowledge

If you gave an employee ten hours to spend to either:

Earn a professional certification
Complete company-created employee training

Which do you think most employees would choose?

Sorry, but most employees view company-created trainings somewhat like the dentist. They do it because they have to.

Work with professional associations to influence certification curriculums towards the knowledge, skills and abilities you need.

Find more and better ways of encouraging mentorship.

Invest in internal internship and innovation programs that allow employees to explore the ideas and the other areas of the business they’re passionate about.

Conclusion

Transitioning from a know-it-all to a learn-it-all culture is no small feat and requires commitment and investment at a number of different levels inside the organization. I’ve highlighted the five keys to building a learn-it-all culture inside your organization, but only you can take the keys and unlock these capabilities inside your organization. Now is the time to invest in your learning transformation.

But smart countries will be thinking bigger. Smart countries will be thinking about how they can transform their educational systems to create a continuous learning mindset in their next generation, finance a move from STEM to STEAM, and commit to ongoing worker reskilling and retraining programs to support displaced workers.

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Legal and Ethical Implications of Accessibility Standards

Leave a reply

Legal and Ethical Implications of Accessibility Standards

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

As society transitions further into the digital age, accessibility is no longer simply a technological consideration but a legal and ethical obligation. Ensuring that digital products and environments are accessible to all individuals, regardless of disabilities, is crucial for promoting inclusivity, equity, and social justice. In this article, we will explore the legal bindings and ethical commitments tied to accessibility standards and dive into two compelling case studies that highlight their significance.

Understanding Accessibility Standards

Accessibility standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), aim to provide a framework for making online content more accessible to people with disabilities. These standards are crucial in eliminating barriers that prevent interactions with web content, mobile applications, and various electronic devices.

Legal Implications

Legal frameworks around the world, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States and the Equality Act in the United Kingdom, legally enforce the principle of accessibility. Organizations must ensure their digital properties comply with these standards to avoid legal repercussions, which can include lawsuits, fines, and severe reputational damage.

Ethical Implications

Beyond legal mandates, there lies an ethical responsibility. The ethical dimension of accessibility emphasizes equality, autonomy, and respect for all individuals. It implores organizations to prioritize users with disabilities, ensuring that they possess equal opportunities to access information, services, and experiences online.

Case Study 1: Domino’s Pizza

In 2019, Domino’s Pizza faced a significant legal battle over website accessibility. The case was brought forth by a visually impaired individual who was unable to order food through Domino’s website using a screen reader. This case escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear Domino’s appeal, thereby upholding the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that the ADA applies to the company’s website.

This case underscores the legal implications businesses face when failing to ensure their digital offerings are accessible. It also highlights the need for comprehensive strategies to meet accessibility standards to avoid potential litigations and uphold societal values of equity.

Case Study 2: Target Corporation

Another high-profile case involved Target Corporation, where the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) filed a lawsuit claiming that their website was not accessible to visually impaired users. The landmark settlement in 2008 required Target to pay $6 million in damages and implement changes to their website to ensure accessibility.

This case serves as a reminder that ethical practices can also lead to pragmatic business benefits. By making their digital resources accessible, businesses not only avoid legal disputes but also open the doors to a wider customer base, promoting a brand image centered around inclusivity and social responsibility.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while accessibility standards are legally mandated, they also present an ethical call to action for organizations. The cases of Domino’s Pizza and Target Corporation poignantly reflect the consequences of neglecting legal obligations and ethical commitments. It is imperative for organizations to integrate accessibility into their digital strategies, not only to avoid legal repercussions but also to uphold their ethical duty to foster inclusive spaces online.

As we continue to innovate and evolve in a digital world, let us remain steadfast in our commitment to accessibility standards, ensuring that the digital landscape is welcoming and inclusive for all.

Extra Extra: Because innovation is all about change, Braden Kelley’s human-centered change methodology and tools are the best way to plan and execute the changes necessary to support your innovation and transformation efforts — all while literally getting everyone all on the same page for change. Find out more about the methodology and tools, including the book Charting Change by following the link. Be sure and download the TEN FREE TOOLS while you’re here.

Image credit: Pexels

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Innovative Applications of 5G Technology

Leave a reply

Innovative Applications of 5G Technology

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In the realm of communication and connectivity, 5G technology stands as a revolutionary advancement that promises to transform industries and enhance daily life in unprecedented ways. With its capabilities of ultra-low latency, increased capacity, and higher speeds, 5G is set to empower a new era in innovation. This article explores the innovative applications of 5G technology through the lens of two compelling case studies that highlight its transformative potential.

1. Smart Cities and Urban Connectivity

5G technology has taken the concept of smart cities from futuristic vision to practical reality. By facilitating seamless connectivity and the integration of thousands of devices, 5G enables urban centers to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Case Study: Barcelona’s Revolutionized Public Services

Barcelona, Spain, has become a pioneering example of a city leveraging 5G to enhance municipal services. Through strategic partnerships with technology providers, Barcelona implemented 5G-enabled smart lighting systems that automatically adjust based on real-time data of pedestrian movement and ambient light conditions. This has resulted in significant energy savings and reduced carbon emissions.

Moreover, 5G connectivity has enabled the deployment of smart waste management solutions, where bins equipped with sensors communicate their fill levels. This data facilitates optimized waste collection routes, decreasing logistical costs and minimizing the environmental impact.

What sets Barcelona apart is its use of 5G for augmented reality (AR) tourism applications. Visitors can now experience immersive guided tours, where historical data and interactive elements enhance their understanding of cultural landmarks in a dynamic manner. These innovations not only provide immediate economic and ecological benefits but also improve the overall quality of urban life by making the city more efficient and engaging.

2. Transforming Healthcare

In the healthcare sector, 5G’s impact is set to be revolutionary. The technology’s high-speed and reliable connectivity is paving the way for advancements in telemedicine, remote surgery, and patient monitoring, thus democratizing access to high-quality medical care.

Case Study: Remote Surgery in China

In January 2019, the world witnessed a groundbreaking application of 5G in healthcare. Surgeons in China successfully performed the first remote surgery on a patient situated hundreds of kilometers away, enabled by 5G’s ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Guided meticulously by precise, real-time data, a robotic arm executed the surgical procedure with a human surgeon directing it over a 5G connection.

This milestone demonstrated the potential to extend specialized surgical care to remote areas lacking in advanced medical facilities. Patients in rural or under-served regions could receive critical medical interventions without the need to travel to urban centers, reducing both the cost and the time involved in seeking specialized care. Surgeons can now execute complex procedures with precision, utilizing ultra-high definition video feeds and instantaneous data transfer capabilities afforded by 5G networks.

3. Entertainment and Immersive Experiences

The entertainment industry stands to gain enormously from 5G technology, especially in the realm of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. These immersive technologies require high data transfer rates and low latency, both of which are forte of 5G.

Case Study: Enhanced Live Events with 5G

The music entertainment company Live Nation has been at the forefront of using 5G to enhance live event experiences. At select events, fans can access 360-degree concert footage from multiple camera angles, create personalized audio mixes, and interact with virtual replicas of performing artists in real-time, all supported by 5G connectivity.

This not only enhances the on-site experience but also opens up new avenues for remote attendees who, regardless of location, can experience concerts as if they were attending in person. This innovative application demonstrates 5G’s potential to revolutionize how we consume and interact with entertainment, paving the way for more personalized and engaging viewer experiences.

4. Future Prospects and Innovations

As 5G networks continue to expand globally, the horizon for innovative applications seems boundless. From advancing the Internet of Things (IoT) to facilitating autonomous transportation systems, 5G is instrumental in catalyzing essential developments across various sectors. By enabling robust and rapid communication between devices, it sets the groundwork for interconnected ecosystems and the seamless flow of data.

Future prospects include the widespread adoption of smart factories empowered by real-time analytics and enhanced automation, fortified by 5G infrastructure. The retail industry is set to witness transformations with tailored interactive shopping experiences facilitated over 5G networks, blending the physical and digital shopping landscapes.

Extra Extra: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Unsplash

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Bureaucracy and Politics versus Innovation

4 Replies

Bureaucracy and Politics versus Innovation

Innovation in military hardware is really hard.

I wanted to call this article “Corruption versus Innovation” but I sailed back from the precipice to a more forgiving title to give the government and military contractors the benefit of the doubt that the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program – aka Little Crappy Ships – was not corporate welfare but merely a poorly executed military contract.

Back in 2004 the Bush administration decided it wanted to increase military spending.

One of the ways they decided to do this was to initiate a new shipbuilding program that benefited Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. The initial phase of the project called for two ships of each design to be built at an estimated cost of $220 million each. The initial phase of this suspect shipbuilding program went so poorly that congress canceled the second ship each company was scheduled to build and re-opened bidding.

The government pushed for fixed price contracting, and despite agreeing to a fixed price of $432-437 million each, the first ship set sail at a price of $637 million and the second at a whopping $704 million. This for a ship that was initially envisioned to only need a crew of forty sailors (eight officers and 32 enlisted) to operate. This was later changed to a crew of 73 sailors and 20 airmen to operate helicopters, UAV’s or other special equipment.

After beginning the LCS program in 2004, it wasn’t until 2013 that the initial LCS achieved its first deployment – to Singapore. That’s nine years from initiation to product launch. Think about how much has changed in the last nine years – we’ll come back to this point later.

The continuing poor performance of both the program (never-ending cost overruns), and the ship itself, forced the US Navy to reduce its orders from 55 of the ships to 32. Despite this reduction in the number of ships, the Navy chose to still take delivery of all 120 of the helicopters designed to pair with the ships, deeming it more expensive to cancel the contract for the excess helicopters than to go ahead and take delivery.

You can probably see now why I was going to call this article “Corruption versus Innovation” as the billions of dollars siphoned from the taxpayers to the military contractors and their shareholders pile up.

What’s worse, not only have the ships proven to be THREE TIMES more expensive to acquire than advertised, but they break down all the time and cost nearly as much to operate annually as an Arleigh-Burke Destroyer AND they have still yet to deploy their mine countermeasure and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

The situation is so bad that the Navy is abandoning the program and looking to replace its little crappy ships (LCS) with a new Frigate program – the FFG (X) to be constructed by an Italian shipbuilding firm.

So, what went wrong?

Through the eyes of both a U.S. Navy Veteran, and as an innovation professional, here are my thoughts about how the U.S. Government can require its contractors to leverage more innovation best practices in their provision of services on behalf of the American people. Here are five places to start:

1. Pick the Right Time Horizon for Your Design Challenge

One of the biggest mistakes that organizations make is not consider how long it takes to develop, launch and market a new product or service without considering how an identified customer insight might change over that timeframe. For example, if it takes you two years to launch a new product and you’re developing that product based on a customer insight identified today, there is a chance that two years from now the customer may no longer value the key elements of the solution you’re designing. So, you must make sure that you’re designing against a customer insight that will still be relevant at the end of your product development and launch timeline.

Innovating for the Future Present

For more, see my article Are You Innovating for the Past or the Future?

2. Make Sure You’re Solving a Problem Worth Solving

It is really easy to latch on to a single problem and decide to solve it. But is it the right problem to solve?

Smart organizations don’t jump to problem solving too soon, but instead start with problem finding in a divergent manner before converging via problem prioritization, then diverge again in a problem deep dive and finally converge into a problem summary and a research brief focused on a carefully chosen problem worth solving.

Preparing to Solve the Right Problem

For more, see my article Picking a Problem Worth Solving From a Sea of Problems

3. Identify Potential Fatal Flaws

No idea is perfect, and so when you can identify the potential fatal flaws or the high hurdles that have to be overcome, you can challenge them, you can solve for them, you can unleash the passion of your team on trying to find a way around them.

The fatal flaws are always there, and the wise innovator doesn’t ignore them or assume that they will overcome them at some point in the future, but instead invests energy upfront into both trying to identify the fatal flaws of their idea and into identifying whether they can isolate the solutions before moving the idea forward.

For more, see my article Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fatal Flaws

4. Create an Experimentation Strategy and a Plan for Learning Fast

When it comes to innovation, it is not as important whether you fail fast or fail slow or whether you fail at all, but how fast you learn. And make no mistake, you don’t have to fail to innovate (although there are always some obstacles along the way). With the right approach to innovation you can learn quickly from failures AND successes.

The key is to pursue your innovation efforts as a discrete set of experiments designed to learn certain things and instrumenting each project phase in such a way that the desired learning is achieved.

The central question should always be:

“What do we hope to learn from this effort?”

My Experiment Canvas is a great free tool you can download from this web site to help you design and execute a series of carefully selected experiments to help you get the right learning and to help identify early on whether or not you can realistically solve for the potential fatal flaws – as early as possible – while investments are low.

For more, see my article Don’t Fail Fast – Learn Fast and download your free Experiment Canvas poster to print or to use as a background to lock down and put virtual sticky notes on top of in online whiteboarding tools like Miro, Mural, LucidSpark or Microsoft Whiteboard.

5. Design for Modularity to Reduce Obsolescence

The LCS was promised to be a modular warship capable of performing multiple missions, but the contractors have failed to deliver on this promise.

It takes a really long time to put a new ship design to sea and into service. So, if you get it wrong, like with the LCS program, it will be many more years before you can replace a faulty design with a new design.

We rarely successfully predict the future, so it is important to design in the capability to adapt solutions as they are developed to match emerging realities. Otherwise, you can end up designing a solution for a problem that goes away.

To reduce the chances of designing a new ship for a mission that may no longer be needed by the time it is put to sea, it is imperative that each ship is designed to be intentionally modular. It is imperative that each ship is designed as a platform of platforms.

The automobile industry has gotten really good at designing in this way. Different trim levels have different stereo options, for example, or a dealer can install a spoiler or a luggage rack pretty easily if a customer desires it.

Designing with modularity and upgradeability in mind to change out key components to different mission needs that may emerge over time or new technologies that may create new or enhanced capabilities, is an incredibly powerful way to extend the usefulness and lifespan of each new maritime defense hull.

Conclusion

The U.S. Navy is in a quandary about what to do with the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) it already has.

So much so that it has reached out to fleet commanders to inquire what missions the ships should be deployed against – according to Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener.

The Navy should consider opening up their queries for help even wider, perhaps to the global innovation community.

But, with that said, as a U.S. Navy veteran I think the perception of the success or failure of this program would be seen much differently if they had successfully deployed the Anti-Mine Countermeasure and Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities BEFORE the Surface Warfare capabilities.

Frigates and Destroyers are much more capable surface warfare platforms, and in hindsight the billions of dollars wasted on this program could have been much better spent for the benefit of the American people.

So, I hope that military contractors and the U.S. Government will improve their ability to deliver increased value at a decreased price as they pursue future shipbuilding programs and leverage some of the innovation best practices above.

Grabbing a copy of Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire would also be a great place to start.

Go Navy!

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

The Rise of Telemedicine

Leave a reply

A Game-Changer in Healthcare Access

The Rise of Telemedicine

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In recent years, the advancement of technology has revolutionized various sectors, and healthcare is no exception. Telemedicine, the practice of using digital communication technologies to provide remote medical care, is rapidly emerging as a game-changer in enhancing healthcare access. By bridging geographical barriers and minimizing logistical challenges, telemedicine has the potential to transform the way we receive medical treatment. This article explores the rise of telemedicine and presents two case studies to demonstrate its impact on improving healthcare access for both urban and rural populations.

Case Study 1 – Urban Accessibility: Dr. Smith’s Virtual Clinic

In bustling urban areas, long wait times, traffic congestion, and limited availability of quality healthcare professionals tend to be common issues. Dr. Michelle Smith, a general practitioner based in a metropolitan city, recognized these challenges and decided to launch a virtual clinic utilizing telemedicine.

By leveraging video conferencing platforms and mobile applications, Dr. Smith was able to connect with her patients remotely. Patients were able to schedule virtual appointments, receive consultations, and even share diagnostic reports or lab results with her through secure online platforms. To further personalize the experience, Dr. Smith integrated wearable devices and health monitoring tools to remotely track her patients’ vital signs and symptoms.

The implementation of telemedicine not only eliminated the need for patients to travel long distances, but it also reduced waiting times significantly. Additionally, Dr. Smith could effectively manage a larger patient base, providing healthcare services beyond the traditional office hours. As a result, her clinic experienced increased patient satisfaction, improved health outcomes, and reduced overall healthcare costs.

Case Study 2 – Rural Access Enhancement: The Texas Telehealth Initiative

In remote rural areas, access to healthcare services is often limited due to the scarcity of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. The Texas Telehealth Initiative demonstrates how telemedicine has tackled these challenges and improved healthcare access.

The initiative aimed to provide comprehensive healthcare services to rural communities across Texas through a network of telemedicine clinics. Patients living in isolated rural areas could now consult with specialists located in urban cities without the need for long journeys or expensive travel arrangements.

For instance, a patient suffering from a cardiological condition in a small town could remotely access a cardiologist in a big city for both diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Implementing high-definition video conferencing systems, medical professionals could examine patients virtually, review their medical history, and make accurate assessments. Moreover, real-time collaboration between specialists reduced the chances of misdiagnosis and improved treatment outcomes.

By reducing the barriers caused by geographical distance, the Texas Telehealth Initiative effectively enhanced healthcare access in rural communities. Patients who previously faced limited services or were compelled to travel long distances for specialized care could now receive top-notch medical attention from the comfort of their local clinic. This initiative undoubtedly resulted in improved patient outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and reduced healthcare costs for both patients and healthcare organizations.

Conclusion

The rise of telemedicine presents a unique opportunity to transform healthcare access for vast numbers of individuals. As demonstrated by the aforementioned case studies, telemedicine offers immense potential in improving accessibility for both urban and rural populations. By leveraging digital communication technologies, healthcare professionals can overcome geographical barriers, reduce waiting times, and optimize the utilization of healthcare resources.

However, it is essential to ensure the responsible and ethical integration of telemedicine into existing healthcare systems. Policymakers, regulators, and healthcare providers must collaborate to establish clear guidelines, address privacy concerns, and tackle potential technical challenges. Only through careful planning and implementation can telemedicine truly transform healthcare access worldwide, making quality healthcare available to everyone regardless of their geographical location.

Bottom line: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

The Future of Urban Planning and Smart Cities

Leave a reply

The Future of Urban Planning and Smart Cities

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

As we stand on the precipice of a new era in urban development, the future of cities is being shaped by rapid technological advancements, demographic shifts, and an increasing focus on sustainability. Urban planning and smart cities are at the forefront of this transformation, promising to create more efficient, livable, and resilient urban environments. In this article, we will explore the key trends driving the future of cities and examine two case studies that illustrate the potential of smart city initiatives.

Key Trends in Urban Planning and Smart Cities

1. Sustainability and Resilience

Urban planners are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and resilience in their designs. This includes integrating green spaces, promoting public transportation, and implementing renewable energy solutions. The goal is to create cities that can withstand environmental challenges while reducing their carbon footprint.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

The rise of big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled cities to collect and analyze vast amounts of information. This data-driven approach allows for more informed decision-making, optimizing everything from traffic flow to energy consumption.

3. Citizen-Centric Design

Modern urban planning emphasizes the importance of designing cities around the needs and preferences of their inhabitants. This involves engaging citizens in the planning process and using technology to enhance their quality of life.

4. Smart Infrastructure

Smart cities leverage advanced technologies to improve infrastructure efficiency. This includes smart grids, intelligent transportation systems, and automated waste management. These innovations help reduce costs and improve service delivery.

Case Study 1: Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is a shining example of a city that has embraced smart city principles to enhance the quality of life for its residents.

Smart Lighting

Barcelona has implemented a smart lighting system that uses sensors to adjust street lighting based on real-time conditions. This not only reduces energy consumption but also improves public safety by ensuring well-lit streets.

Urban Mobility

The city has introduced a comprehensive urban mobility plan that includes a network of bike lanes, electric vehicle charging stations, and a smart parking system. The smart parking system uses sensors to provide real-time information on available parking spaces, reducing traffic congestion and emissions.

Citizen Engagement

Barcelona has developed a digital platform called “Decidim” that allows residents to participate in the decision-making process. Citizens can propose and vote on initiatives, ensuring that their voices are heard in the planning and development of the city.

Case Study 2: Singapore

Singapore is often hailed as one of the world’s leading smart cities, thanks to its innovative use of technology and data.

Smart Nation Initiative

Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative aims to harness technology to improve the lives of its citizens. This includes the deployment of sensors and IoT devices across the city to monitor everything from air quality to water levels.

Autonomous Vehicles

Singapore is at the forefront of autonomous vehicle testing and deployment. The city-state has created dedicated testbeds for self-driving cars and is working on integrating them into its public transportation system.

Smart Housing

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) in Singapore has implemented smart solutions in public housing estates. This includes smart energy management systems, automated waste collection, and elderly monitoring systems to enhance the well-being of residents.

Conclusion

The future of cities lies in the successful integration of technology, sustainability, and citizen-centric design. As demonstrated by the examples of Barcelona and Singapore, smart city initiatives have the potential to transform urban environments, making them more efficient, livable, and resilient. By embracing these principles, cities around the world can create a brighter future for their inhabitants.

As we move forward, it is crucial for urban planners, policymakers, and citizens to collaborate and innovate. The journey towards smarter cities is not without its challenges, but with a shared vision and commitment, we can build urban environments that are truly fit for the future.

SPECIAL BONUS: The very best change planners use a visual, collaborative approach to create their deliverables. A methodology and tools like those in Change Planning Toolkit™ can empower anyone to become great change planners themselves.

Image credit: Pexels

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

The Impact of Climate Change on Future Scenarios

Leave a reply

The Impact of Climate Change on Future Scenarios

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

Climate change is not a distant threat; it is a present-day challenge that is reshaping the world as we know it. Its effects are pervasive, influencing various aspects of the environment, economy, and society. In this article, we will explore the profound impact of climate change on future scenarios through two case studies that highlight the urgent need for action.

Case Study 1: The Arctic’s Thawing Permafrost

The Arctic region is experiencing warming at a rate twice as fast as the global average. This rapid temperature increase has led to the thawing of permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen ground that spans much of the Arctic. This thawing releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, which were previously trapped in the ice.

Implications for the Future:

Release of Greenhouse Gases: The carbon released from thawing permafrost could exacerbate global warming, creating a feedback loop that leads to even more permafrost melt.
Infrastructure Damage: As the ground thaws, infrastructure built on permafrost, including roads and buildings, is at risk of damage or collapse.
Ecosystem Disruption: The thawing permafrost disrupts Arctic ecosystems, affecting the habitat of species like the polar bear and the Arctic fox.

Case Study 2: Rising Sea Levels and Coastal Cities

Coastal cities around the world are facing the threat of rising sea levels, which are a direct consequence of climate change. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, the increased volume of water is causing sea levels to rise, leading to coastal erosion and increased flooding.

Implications for the Future:

Displacement of Populations: Rising sea levels could displace millions of people living in low-lying areas, leading to humanitarian crises.
Economic Losses: Coastal cities are economic hubs, and damage from flooding can lead to significant economic losses.
Loss of Biodiversity: Coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and coral reefs, are at risk of being submerged, leading to a loss of biodiversity.

The Path Forward

The case studies of the Arctic’s thawing permafrost and rising sea levels in coastal cities illustrate the dire consequences of climate change. However, there is still time to mitigate these effects through concerted global efforts.

Reducing Emissions: By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we can slow the rate of climate change and limit its impact on the planet.
Adapting Infrastructure: Developing resilient infrastructure can help communities withstand the effects of climate change.
Conserving Ecosystems: Protecting and restoring ecosystems can provide natural defenses against climate change impacts.

The Impact of Climate Change on Future Scenarios

Case Study 1: The Arctic’s Thawing Permafrost

Implications for the Future:

Release of Greenhouse Gases: The carbon released from thawing permafrost could exacerbate global warming, creating a feedback loop that leads to even more permafrost melt.
Infrastructure Damage: As the ground thaws, infrastructure built on permafrost, including roads and buildings, is at risk of damage or collapse.
Ecosystem Disruption: The thawing permafrost disrupts Arctic ecosystems, affecting the habitat of species like the polar bear and the Arctic fox.

Case Study 2: Rising Sea Levels and Coastal Cities

Implications for the Future:

Displacement of Populations: Rising sea levels could displace millions of people living in low-lying areas, leading to humanitarian crises.
Economic Losses: Coastal cities are economic hubs, and damage from flooding can lead to significant economic losses.
Loss of Biodiversity: Coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and coral reefs, are at risk of being submerged, leading to a loss of biodiversity.

The Path Forward

Reducing Emissions: By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we can slow the rate of climate change and limit its impact on the planet.
Adapting Infrastructure: Developing resilient infrastructure can help communities withstand the effects of climate change.
Conserving Ecosystems: Protecting and restoring ecosystems can provide natural defenses against climate change impacts.

Conclusion

The impact of climate change on future scenarios is significant and multifaceted. It is imperative that we take decisive action now to secure a sustainable future for generations to come. The choices we make today will determine the severity of climate change’s impact on our world⁶⁷⁸⁹.

References:
(1) How the climate crisis could impact our future | Stories | WWF. https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/how-the-climate-crisis-could-impact-our-future.
(2) Predictions of Future Global Climate – Center for Science Education. https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/predictions-future-global-climate.
(3) Future of Climate Change | Climate Change Science | US EPA – Chicago. https://climatechange.chicago.gov/climate-change-science/future-climate-change.
(4) The Effects of Climate Change – Science@NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/.
(5) Climate Case Studies | NOAA Climate.gov. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-case-studies.
(6) Seven case studies in carbon and climate – NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/carbon-cycle/seven-case-studies-in-carbon-and-climate/.
(7) Case Studies | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies.
(8) Searchable Case Studies for Climate Change Adaptation. https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/searchable-case-studies-climate-change-adaptation.
(9) Case Studies | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. https://bing.com/search?q=Climate+Change+case+studies.# The Impact of Climate Change on Future Scenarios

Image credit: Pexels

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.