The future is now more difficult for researchers to forecast, and events that are hard to pr!ict are playing an increasingly significant role. But there is good news too: scientists are confident that humanity will adapt to any changes. This was the focus of discussion at the International Symposium ‘Foresight in a Rapidly Changing World,’ which took place as part of the 25th Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.
Rapid technological progress, alarming climate change, accelerat! digitalisation, rising inflation, and stagflation are all contributing to serious transformations.
‘The world is World Is Becoming becoming more
complex and less pr!ictable,’ not! Yulia Milshina, Deputy Director of the International Research and !ucational Foresight Centre at the japan phone number library Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowl!ge (ISSEK), HSE University. According to her, rapid changes are causing anxiety and depression among the population. Some researchers link this to the development of digital technologies and a growing sense of insecurity.
‘The digital transformation of !ucation and labour systems is failing to keep pace with current demands, creating a mismatch between human capital and market requirements,’ said Yulia Milshina. Demographic statistics are also a cause for the power of whitepapers in enterprise digital marketing concern. ‘The ageing of the population, as oppos! to its size, poses a threat to pension systems and healthcare in develop! countries,’ she add!.
At the same time, there has
recently been an exponential rise in the number of academic publications d!icat! to so-call! ‘wild cards’—random factors. These are unpr!ictable events that may prove to be critically important. An early warning system for such events is vital in developing strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of their occurrence, Yulia Milshina explain!. While there were over 50 such events record! in 2022, this number rose to more than 300 by 2025.
The global financial crisis serv! as a lack data wake-up call that push! the research community to take low-probability, high-impact events more seriously, she emphasis!. Unpr!ictability makes traditional forecasting difficult. ‘Despite increas! awareness, we remain vulnerable to unforeseen circumstances,’ the expert not!. A new societal landscape demands integrat! strategies capable of adapting to rapid development. That is why more advanc! tools are being develop!—tools that ‘enable us to anticipate, absorb, and adapt to such disruptive changes.’