BANI vs VUCA: The Art of Future-Proofing ft. Jamais Cascio

Foreign Policy magazine Top 100 Global Thinker, Jamais Cascio, joins us to describe how we have transformed from the Defense Departments VUCA world(volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) to his concept of a BANI world (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear and Incomprehensible). He created the "BANI" model for working with chaotic futures, a concept now widely used around the world. James has appeared in multiple television and film documentaries and serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future.

In early 2009, he released his book, Hacking the Earth: Understanding the Consequences of Geoengineering. Jamais is with Paige and me today to discuss how we can transcend the limits of short-term thinking and see future possibilities. We dig into where the VUCA Framework came and why we’ve moved from VUCA to the BANI model for working with chaotic futures. Jamais also shares why he decided to investigate the carbon footprint of a cheeseburger and what he discovered, and he give a nod to Bart Simpson. ‘

"Many eyes make all problems simpler.” - Jamais Cascio

This week on Disarming Data:

• Jamais discusses the lag in climate change and why there is a 5-25-year delay between carbon emissions and temperature changes, even after stopping emissions
• The origins of the term "VUCA" and how it was used to describe the changing global landscape in the late 1980s, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of the internet
• Why we’ve moved from VUCA to the BANI model for working with chaotic futures
• Why organizations with established earthquake protocols fared better in the pandemic than those without
• Why it’s so important to be prepared for and flexible with dramatic changes
• How improvisational training and intuition help people make better decisions when it comes to complex and rapidly changing situations
• Why Jamais advocates for a ‘many eyes’ approach to problem-solving
• Why the pace of technological innovation in addressing climate change, particularly in the context of geoengineering is so slow
• Geoengineering's potential impact on global rainfall patterns
• Why people need to get more adaptable in their response to technological changes

Connect with Jamais Cascio:

• IFTF Website
• Jamais Cascio on LinkedIn

Connect with Disarming Data:

• Paige Biderman on LinkedIn
• David Biderman on LinkedIn