What future

   Many hope that in the future technology will help us to learn but also allow more time to think about what it means to be a human being.      I am enthusiastic about technology, but I also believe that if we do not have the space for imagining how technology can improve the world, things can go very wrong. No new technology automatically saves us or ruins us.                                                      My fear for the future is that artificial intelligence could push us into being merely consumers. I am also worried about the rising nationalistic narratives and “us against them” mentality across Europe and the world. Instead, we should be open to radical ideas of working together to fix the current weaknesses of democracy.                                                    I believe technology is important but only if it is used with the right level of consciousness. So, the area where the most progress is needed is not technology itself but the mindsets of people. AI, for instance can be a great tool, not only for humanity but for the planet, but if we unleash AI without any understanding of Natural intelligence (NI), then that is just downright foolish.                                        NI is the intelligence that has kept life going for billions of years despite massive change and disruption. It is about the deep principles and patterns that have made life on our planet so successful. You can call them the Prime Directives that make nature work. They matter because going against the ways in which life works is inherently inefficient. It costs energy, resources, health and spirit.         NI shows us that there is another way. One of the best ways of learning about NI is through nature immersions. I once took more than 20 bankers into the woods to explore how forests invest in the future. Since forests have been around for millions of years, their investment strategies have been successful. Imagine if banks learned to do the same?                    Most banks today are still investing in degradation, but what if they could catalyse regeneration, leaving the world healthier, wealthier, more viable and more sustainable? Now, there is a story that I would like to see unfold.                                                  My dream is that we will finally realise that what we do to nature, we do to ourselves. This insight could activate us into a fundamental transformation of the ways in which we think (because it is our thinking that shapes the material world), of the ways in which we behave (the things we do for each other, who we need to be to move the world forward) and of the ways in which we design, develop and organise the world.We have designed a foresight tool for voluntary organisations, as their need for related skills is rising sharply due to growing uncertainty: in 2018 around 40% of respondents from the Finnish voluntary sector chose this as a skills need, but in 2020 this share had risen to 63%.                                               I am interested in discovering how we can provide learning that helps adults acquire competences to help them make sense of the world, both today and tomorrow.