7X7 – Seven Imaginations

Wendy McGuinness

Tuesday, 26 August saw the final evening of the 7X7 Ideas Forum. Wendy decided to use her 7 minutes to discuss a few insights she had whilst attending the World Future Conference in Washington D.C. The theme of the evening was Seven Imaginations, a perfect complement to our Project 2058 which looks 50 years ahead, and imagines what New Zealand might look like. Wendy highlighted Weak Signals (early indicators of changes in trends) and Wild Cards (low-probability and high-impact events) that are beginning to become clear, and what implications these will have for the future of New Zealand. Examples of these are an aging population, shifts in the ratio between those living in poverty and wealth, leaps in nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, and a global crime trade equal to a combined global military budget. All of these imaginings lead us to the question: ‘what can we do today?’ Wendy’s response to this was that with a National Strategy for Sustainable Development, New Zealand would be able to move forward with consensus.

Wendy McGuinness

• Read our Think Piece on Wendy’s presentation
• See the slides from Wendy’s presentation
• Visit the 7X7 website to watch or download videos from this evening.

Text by Willow Henderson
Photos by Jean-Charles Perquin