I Can Calculate the Movement of Stars, but Not the Madness of Men

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Economic forecasting is one of those areas, i think, that people often speak very authoritatively, as if they know what's coming. Amy there are regularities to human behavior, but it's still pretty unpredictable. We're much less sure about whether politicians in the next few decades will make the decisions necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That's a bit scary, yes? Those domains in the middle generate most anxiety and fear.

What does the future hold? And how do we make sure we're making the best decisions for ourselves? In today's episode with David Christian, you will discover answers to these questions and much more!

"What are the skills involved in trying to think about the future? To construct future stories that are closer to the truth than other future stories? Because if we don't do that. We die." - David Christian

David Christian is a distinguished Professor of History at Macquarie University and Director of the school's Big History Institute. David co-founded the Big History Project with Bill Gates and has delivered keynotes at conferences around the world, including the Davos Economic Forum. His Ted Talk has been viewed millions of times and he is the author of many books and articles.

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Also From the Interview with David Christian...

His book, Future Stories: What's Next
The questions leading him to write about the future
How we are always thinking about and telling ourselves stories about the future
Thinking about the philosophy and science of time
The two metaphors of time being like a river and a map
How time is an important concept for complex entities
Punctuated equilibrium refers to trends from the past to predict changes in the future
How time is experienced in 3 ways: natural, psychological, and social time
The best predictions of the future depend on finding the most powerful trends of the past
The four possible scenarios for the future of humanity

David Christian links:

David's Website

Twitter

Ted Talk

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If you enjoyed this conversation with David Christian, check out these other episodes:

Big History of Everything with David Christian (2019)

What We Know But Don't Believe with Steve Hagen

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