Some of my projects have been funded by foundations in the past. We just opened a new on line public social simulation or that anybody who's interested and participating in these games can come and join. It's called urgent optimists. And we teach you how to play, and we help you learn the skills of futurists,. So you can create your own scenarias, if you want. Ah, but the work that i'm doing now m is arasically, we're looking for grants, because really there are certain topics that we need to simulate, like climate migration.
Shermer speaks with world-renowned future forecaster and game designer, Jane McGonigal, about her book Imaginable in which she draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable by inviting us to play with provocative thought experiments and future simulations.
Shermer and McGonigal discuss: what a futurist is and what they do; counterfactuals: predicting the past; how could the present moment be different?; how can you imagine the unimaginable, or think the unthinkable?; how to envision what our lives will look like ten years from now; how to to solve problems creatively; how to make decisions that will help shape the future we desire; how to simulate any future you want; simulations as thought experiments as counterfactual causality tests; gaming as simulation of problem solving; the 10,000-hour rule for success; your present self vs. your future self and why most of us discount the future too much.