IFTF Map on post-Covid alternative futures and the deeper disease

Our world seemed to stop in the time of Covid-19.

But the spread of Covid-19 doesn’t stop with the virus. It also spreads across the future.

The Institute For the Future, the world’s leading futures organization, created alternative futures scenarios after the pandemic, and they are:

1. Economic growth (Saving Capitalists – stimulus without structural change)
2. Health constraint (Germ Pods – algorithmic disease management)
3. Political collapse (Ungoverning – masks and arms)
4. Social transformation (Social Solidarity – universal basic well-being)

They also identified “systemic weak points that will structure our future in the face of a global pandemic whose effects we’re just beginning to experience.” The systemic weak points are as follows:

1. Economic inequality (low-wage workers, unemployment, gig economy platforms, savings and debt)
2. Brittle supply chain (food systems, medical supply chains, patent processes, consumer goods)
3. Fragile social fabric (public social spaces, educational institutions, cultural expression, civic boundaries)
4. Broken health systems (health expertise, health costs, health outcomes, health workers)
5. Racial injustice (equal opportunity, public safety, communities of color, shifting demographics)
6. Political divisions (federal government, state and local governments, Blue vs. Red divisions, political corruption)
7. Climate emergency (climate science, carbon industries, environmental regulations, climate disaster preparedness)

To know more, download the full map here.

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