Woudhuysen



Forecasting Posts

Bank of England, London

The never-ending failures of the forecasters

Published 22 June 2023

The Bank of England isn’t the only ‘expert’ body that keeps getting its predictions wrong

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Ehrlich on Youtube / 60 minutes

Paul Ehrlich and the madness of climate alarmists

Published 10 January 2023

His prophecies of eco-doom have been proven wrong time and again – why is he still taken seriously?

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22 Ideas About The Future

22 Ideas About the Future

Published 28 September 2022

22 Ideas about the future, Edited by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram, Cybersalon Press, 2022

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Water shortages and climate change

Britain’s water shortages have nothing to do with climate change

Published 8 August 2022

Scaremongering about droughts lets the government and the water firms off the hook

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GB News on modelling

Do you trust the SAGE modelling?

Published 22 December 2021

James responds to a discussion on GB News about why modellers tend to provide worst case scenarios around the Covid 19 pandemic

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Working from home

Working from Home: the 1985 verdict

Published 10 June 2020

The downsides to WFH were evident 35 years ago

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Hospital beds

An epidemic of doomsday forecasts

Published 13 April 2020

Worst-case scenario thinking has clouded political judgement for decades

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Forecasting the future

Predicting the future

Published 2 July 2018

Developments tomorrow and the day after are more certain than is often assumed

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Technology predictions, 2018

What we can expect to see in technology

Published 8 December 2017

As 2018 gets underway, it’s time to take a look at what the year ahead holds for us. There are many areas we could focus on but the one that seems to be on many peoples’ minds is technology.

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Future of work

Automation anxiety and the future of work

Published 14 September 2016

Until fairly recently, most of the literature on the future of work was all too familiar: mobile working, working from home, hot-desking, teams, fun interiors to stimulate creativity, etc.

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Cybersecurity

Hinkley, cybersecurity, China and the New Protectionism

Published 15 August 2016

To much controversy, Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, last month insisted on a fresh review of the building of two new nuclear reactors in the west of England.

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Glaskugel Crystal Ball

Futureproofing your business

Published 2 June 2015

I feel good about not booking my Amtrak train from Washington to New York City two days earlier than I did. In this manner I avoided the murderous crash that happened on that line.

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New catastrophists

The idiocy of the New Catastrophists

Published 22 October 2012

The disparity between commentators’ warnings of doom and their proposed social solutions is hilarious.

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A Satire of Tulip Mania by Brueghel the Younger (ca. 1640)

Manias about change

Published 7 November 2011

Just because your email Inbox is brimming doesn’t mean that the real pace of change is accelerating. Panel discussion.

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The end is nigh

The end is nigh: is survival all we can hope for?

Published 11 October 2011

In their policies for energy and for the economy, British politicians hold up continued existence as the maximum goal we should strive for.

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Gladwell: hero or zero?

Published 26 June 2009

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers reveals more about the author’s prejudices than it does the nature of success.

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The CFLs are on, but nobody’s home

Published 12 January 2009

The mad green war on light bulbs won’t save much electricity – it’s about enforcing moral rectitude in the home.

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Forecasting the frontiers of design

Published 12 October 2006

Measures of design effectiveness have become more and more subjective. It’s time to call a halt

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Trends

Futures and trends: foresight, forecasting or futurology

Published 20 August 2006

In brief, the market launch of a new product or service takes place months, and usually years, after its original conception and design.

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Constructive ideas from the East

Published 13 October 2005

China needs new homes – don’t we all?

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Sun and Universe

The Globalisation of UK manufacturing and services, 2004–24: toward the Agile Economy

Published 9 June 2004

Executive Summary: This report is based on interviews with influential companies, both British and foreign, as well as the author’s own research.

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Risky business

Published 10 October 1996

Today every workplace boasts codes of business ethics. But as long as 10 years ago, it was clear that ethics were a symptom of a wider aversion to risk

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Before we rush to declare a new era

Published 22 December 1994

The doctrine that the world has entered a new Age of Information has plenty of precedents. It is wrong.

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Megamistakes

Back to the future again

Published 21 June 1989

Review of Megamistakes: Forecasting and the Myth of Rapid Technological Change. By Steven Schnaars. The Free Press/Collier Macmillan

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Herman Khan

Herman Kahn – the forecaster as think-tank

Published 2 July 1982

Interview with the man who was the model for Dr Strangelove. Herman Kahn is big. He always was big

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Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren: the punk Svengali as forecaster

Published 10 August 1981

Thirty-six years on, the famous British impresario is entirely prescient here – about the infantilisation of adults, the cult of play, and the rise of selfies

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