How Signal Scanning Changed Our Lives and What We See Ahead

horizonshiftlab
Dec 19, 2024
19 min read

Updated: Jan 22

A collage of previous posts's images including the Time's Best Inventions 2024 cover, the Paris Olympics, a line of hikers on top of the Himalayas, a mall, a picture of a graph cracking through a piece of chocolate, a dog signing a wedding certificate with its paw and a few more. — Source: Various (see list further below)

In this reflective end-of-year episode, we explore how our weekly signal scanning practice has transformed our perspectives and daily lives. From reimagining retirement to embracing creative pursuits and making proactive health choices, we share personal stories of how scanning for signals has helped us face uncertainty with hope and agency. We also discuss emerging patterns we anticipate seeing in the coming year, as well as preview our exciting plans for 2025, including themed monthly topics and community coffee chats. Join us as we examine how systematic futures thinking can help you get unstuck, see the world differently, and create new possibilities for yourself and your communities.

Episode Transcript:

Lana: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.

[0:36]

Lana: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Signal Shift. This is Lana Price. And as always, I'm here with Sue Chi and Raakhee Natha.

And we're at the very end of the year and doing some reflection on our experience of signal scanning and this podcast, what we've learned and how it impacts our lives.

And so we have published consistently every week since we started this journey and have published over 30 episodes so far. I just got an email this morning that we have had downloads in over 18 countries, which I think is really cool. It's really fun and exciting.

And our goal is for you and really for us to have this practice so we can see these glimpses of the future. And one, we can be somewhat prepared. But even more than that, that we can actually seize or create opportunities, as well as minimize risks.

I think it's natural to feel totally overwhelmed and anxious about the speed of change that we're experiencing and the uncertainty about what will happen. And we can acknowledge those feelings while also claiming our agency. We know that the future is not yet written. And there are areas that we can control and influence in our own lives and in our communities.

And so we've covered a wide range of topics this year. And next year, we're actually going to present our work in monthly themes to really help you envision possibilities and employ some smart strategies in different areas of your life.

So given all that is happening, how can you be more strategic about your future, whether it's your career or where you're living or how you'll build climate resiliency, continuous education, and more? So we're excited about that. But for now, we're going to take stock.

And so let me ask you, Sue and Raakhee, how has this practice, what's called horizon scanning, or looking for signals, on a weekly basis, how has this impacted your life?

[3:05]

Sue: This is Sue. I can take a stab at this. Yeah, thanks, Lana, for the prompt. It's been really fun to go through all the work that we did and take stock of where did this impact my life, both in broad themes, but then very specifically.

So I'll start with the broad themes. And I think without a question, I feel like I am exercising a part of my brain I haven't accessed in a long, long time. And that is specifically regarding creativity and imagination, where we take the signals of today, and then we start imagining and extrapolating what that could mean when you combine them together, when you look a few years down the road. So that has been great. And that is something I've taken into other aspects of work, in conversation. It's been really helpful, especially to the people I've been talking to.

The other thing I think that was really helpful is so many of the episodes we have, there is a tension in the theme, whether it's good or bad. And I think my takeaway is that you're always looking for the one clear answer. And there really aren't that many clear answers. And so I think I've learned to sit in this tension and really start talking through it, really to uncover what my feelings are and where they're coming from.

And then I think the biggest takeaway for me was just, overall, it's a mindset change of not just what I need to do to get through today, but really just taking that one extra step to think about what are things I can consider that my 10-year-older self is going to thank me for, that I actually did today. And that is regarding so many things. A lot of it started in the health realm, but it's also around continuous education and training for career, finances, relationships, family, like all of those things. So I definitely credit our practice to that.

But very specifically, some of the things that happened this year, because it came directly from some of our signals and themes were, one, just like all our continuous themes around aging definitely had more heightened awareness about my health around the things I can do to be proactive to stay healthy. I was really happy. I ran a half marathon this year as a result. And it was the, I've been in the best shape of my life since the pandemic, for sure. So a lot of different kinds of changes.

Some fun things like our episode on music definitely changed my mindset about playing an instrument again. So I opened up my flute. It's been years. I took out all my books. I found a person I can play with. And that has been an aspect of my life I brought back. So I really enjoy that.

Another fun thing was our episode on chocolate. Like, definitely changed the way I buy chocolate and look at chocolate. But I have to say, I definitely appreciate every bite of chocolate I have right now, in a way that I didn't before.

And then some more serious topics, like all of our work in AI and data, which has been a big theme for us this year, it's just made me a lot more cautious and conscious about where I'm giving my data. Rethinking, kind of the internet of things in my life and what the true cost is versus the convenience I get from some of it. So there's some things that I said, you know, this is still worth it.

There are other things where I'm like, you know, I don't really need this in my life right now. And it's not worth it to me, so I'm taking it away. So those things have been really, really helpful.

Lana: Amazing. Yeah, I feel inspired by both of you. What a good reminder of some of the things that we've discussed, but also not just the changes that you've made because of those. But I think for me, also it's our relationship. It's kind of the different perspectives that we bring to these subjects that then I can also see that influence coming through in what you were saying and also is bringing up what it meant for me. So thank you for sharing that.

And Raakhee, how about you? What are some of the ways that our work together has really impacted your life?

[7:28]

Raakhee: Yeah, thank you, Lana. Beautiful words. And beautiful words, Sue. And I mean, so much of what you've both said already, but I'll add a little bit on there.

You know, for me, we're dealing with tough subjects sometimes, sometimes they're really fun, but it is such an uncertain time in the world. And I think we tend to, as human beings, want to then kind of shut everything out and then focus on just our lives and what's happening.

And here, through our work, we really do the opposite. We step into it. We're like, okay, what's the next pandemic? And we have to look at these things. But the truth is that even in looking at things that are tough to face, I felt really hopeful throughout this year. And I think it's like what you were speaking about upfront, Lana, which is our agency in all of this. And by knowing the data and knowing the facts, you at least know the truth about something. You know, even it's hard to face. At least it's not a story. At least it's not wondering. It's saying, hey, these are some of the realities of the world we face and a lot of them are really beautiful realities and some are a little bit tougher.

But I feel very hopeful, to be honest, coming out of it. And I think it's because it's saying, this is the role you can play. This is what you can do. And I feel the opposite of stuck. I feel unstuck. I feel really active, hopeful, active, unstuck, which are all good things to do. And I think speaks to what signal scanning can do for you.

You know, I think on the other hand, Sue, you touched on this as well, it's just like learning and creativity and being able to tap into just other ways of thinking about things. And Lana, like you said, that also comes from both of you as well. It's just having fresh perspectives on so many different things and a different take on things and seeing things in different angles.

And again, in a hopeful sense, the word that comes up for me is possibilities. Is you can just see so many different possibilities, which is really cool. And I think is a different way for your brain to be and deal with life. Instead of saying, hey, oh my gosh, this is what it's gonna be, this is what 2025 is gonna be, and oh my, how are we gonna deal with that?

Now we're saying that there's actually a couple of paths that could happen. And then coming back to that question of, okay, well, who am I gonna be within there? And what can I do within there? How can I support others? Really questions come up about being a good citizen as well and being a good person to everybody else because you realize how impacted we all are by each other.

I think all those things coming together make it really beautiful. And so I know you shared some really good examples of like coming back to music, which I love, and so wanna hear you play one day, which is gonna be really exciting.

But I think, yeah, I think similar for me, I've really adopted this philosophy, but we spoke about it in the retirement episode, which is around these different life transitions. So I don't, I think retirement's definitely a word we have retired in our house. We don’t, we used it a lot, but you know, you still accepted it. And now we don't accept that as a word anymore. And we talk about life transitions and these different phases. And I think even planning for the decades ahead is a lot more open and creative and fun and exciting than maybe would have been a couple of years ago because I think it had been constrained by traditional thinking.

I really, really love that. And planning all kinds of different cool things for upcoming phases in life. And it speaks to aging and all the things we've spoken about there as well.

And then just being introduced to cool things like the guy who listens to all, who plays the music from mushrooms. And just loving something like that. And I don't know that I would have found it if I wasn't doing this work. It would have just gone somewhere else. I would have missed that one. And yet I think it's so amazing because I love something about the connection. And I think the connection to nature even that comes across in the work that we do. So, yeah, lots more I could share and talk about, but I'll start with all of that. So that's what it's done for me.

[11:53]

Lana: I love that, the discovery, right? Like, because we're looking for things, we're finding them. And so that is really neat.

Yeah, you know, a lot of my themes overlap with what you two have already said. You know, in some ways, I think we're kind of taking an approach that's like almost like an anthropologist or a sociologist, where we're taking a longer view and saying like, instead of being so consumed or overwhelmed by things that are happening, to be like, okay, what does this point to? Like, what is the longer arc of this trend or this piece of information? Where did this come from? And where are things headed?

Being a little more removed, I think does kind of help not feel like you're in it, or being steamrolled, you know, like by news that's really disheartening.

And I think also like taking the long view, for me at least, does help be like, okay, is this even important right now? Like, should I even be so worried or whatever about this specific thing today? Like, if I think about this like five years from now, 10 years from now, will this have really meant anything? And so I think there's some of that that's helpful.

And yeah, you know, I think it really sparks the entrepreneur in me. Like, I feel like as we do signals research, we see so many different possible jobs, so many different possible businesses that because there is so much happening that we've never experienced before, there's no blueprint. I think it feels like, ahhh, we don't know how to navigate this. No one does. And so, but there are seeds of ideas that someone will pick up. Someone will take that and run with it. You know, anyone can do it. And so I think that's kind of exciting and fun. And I hope that we can kind of draw on some more of those ideas.

But yeah, I think overall, you know, in terms of things that I'm doing in my own life, I really love the gardening episode. Specifically, that was so fun. I think that really touches, because both of you have like very specific expertise in this area. Like, Sue's like master gardener and Raakhee's like a plant-based food expert. And so I'm super excited for it. It's like my top resolution for next year is to both grow my own food and explore eating more plant-based diet. And so I'm just inspired by both of you as people.

And we're placing it in the larger context of where we're going as a society. Like when we saw, you know, for the Olympics, like that this is what Olympic athletes are eating. They're moving towards a locally-based plant-based diet. And they're the highest functioning physical humans across the world.

Yeah, so that's just like one example. But well, you know, I think that one of the things you brought up, Sue, on continuous education, especially as we get older, I think we're at this point in our own age, we're all of a similar age, we could easily fall behind on that AI wave. We have to stay on top of it. Like we're not digital natives, but we're also not so old that having already experienced a lot of tech changes, like not being afraid of progress.

I know so many people who like refuse to, like sort of shut down even when AI comes into the conversation. Do you know what I mean? Where they're like, I'm not gonna, I don't wanna deal with that, I don't wanna talk about that, I don't wanna learn that, I don't want that to be incorporated into my life. And part of me is like, I get it. But if you don't adapt and adopt now, it is only going to get harder. And so this kind of continuous education and being aware and being proactive. I think if we didn't do this, I guess, it could be easier to say like, not now or to not have it be so much on my radar. As like, oh, this is not only an important thing to pay attention to, but to really learn.

Yeah, so I think those are some of the things that come to mind for me.

And so I guess I'm also wondering, because we're looking back and we're looking ahead, so has there been any surprises, like anything that comes up in terms of like, something that we maybe saw this year that we didn't expect? Or do you want to place a bet on something that we will see coming up, if anything that comes to mind?

[17:24]

Raakhee: Well, I mean, I really like, I'll give you one of each. And I'll give the prediction with a deep caution, but this one I thought was really interesting recently is we did an episode on the future of funerals and we can have spoke about these really digital lives that will live on a lot and our rights around that as well, and getting ahead of that.

And very recently in Thailand, an influencer passed away. I think it was either something like drunken driving, like that driver was drunk, or it was suicide, or something like that where there was a campaign around educating people. Basically, I think for the first time in their media landscape, they resurrected her in essence. Created an AI version of her, brought her digitally back for an ad to prevent this and that kind of messaging.

I mean, if you see it and it obviously went viral because no one, you weren't going to see her again. And typically that's what happens, right? We don't, you know, we might see photos, we'll see older videos and we run those kinds of things, but to bring somebody back with new words that we have just lost and it's touched the nation and then bring it back like that. I think it really sparked something in people there. We were speaking literally about that a couple of months ago. So it's really interesting.

We're going to start seeing that now, I think, but it speaks to something else we spoke about a lot, which is our rights around that. This lady did not leave the rights for that. You know, she's gone and she could live on and she never had a choice of decision in that. So we'll talk about that more next year. That's a big one. But yeah, something interesting like that has happened.

And then this is a positive one, but I mean, I'll still say it, with the reason I say “caution” is futures is never about predictions, right? It's just about possibilities.

And so I'll leave it out there around a possibility. I think it's a highly likely, I think it's happening already, but it's this whole concept of, and so we spoke about it in the Time’s episode as well, right? It's around these holistic health centers and really saying that it's going to take medicine, which is progressing in amazing ways. And we've seen that through all our episodes, and what science is going to do, but also saying that we need nature to heal us. So we need those rooftop gardens. We need the sound healing. We need to see green. Our hospitals cannot remain white clinical walls. It just doesn't work. So we do need medicine and we do need nature. And if we bring them together, it's just going to support the aging and longevity that we keep talking about. So we're excited about that. I think we're just going to continue to see even more and more cool stuff in that arena.

Sue: That's so cool, Raakhee. Yeah, I've been seeing more and more of these articles around similar things with the bots and the AI, resurrecting people and all the kind of legal, but also money-making potential there is for that. So definitely more to explore there.

Yeah, I think for me, not so much a prediction, but hope maybe for next year. So I think one thing, unfortunately, I think we're going to see, I forget who brought it up, but it was about the episode we did on transportation. And we talked about the drones and just the flying cars and flying vehicles. And someone had brought up, was it China had just sold airspace for drones? And so I think we're seeing some of the testing cities, I think was it Dallas and somewhere in Texas, they were doing that for Amazon. So we're going to see more and more of that in the coming year. I just hope not in my city for now, but like you said, we just got to get ahead of it and think about what that means for us.

One of the more hopeful things that I'd love to see next year, we talked a lot about travel and tourism this year before the start of the summer. And we just tossed around that notion of like a blue visa or some kind of tourist incentive to practice sustainable practices, both in like relationship with the place that you're visiting and the people. And we saw Denmark had done something like that by the end of the summer.

And I was like, that, I would love to know how that went. I'm a little skeptical that that's going to take off, but there's got to be solution for over-tourism for sure. And we're seeing that the taxes are not working. So there's got to be something else. I would love to be able to see a couple other areas doing something around this kind of sustainability, kind of green blue visa idea and really see what the benefits are for that from both sides, so that’s my hope.

Lana: I completely agree with you, Raakhee. It's not, it is not about being predictive, but I think we're more anticipating, right? Like things that we've seen and what kind of the next step would be after that.

Yeah, I completely agree on the “do not AI.” I actually had a conversation with my husband about this where we talked through this idea, like what if one of us like passes away, if one of us dies, how would we feel, you know, in both positions, either being the one who's the survivor or the one who has died, about like using our voice or like our materials to recreate, you know, like a chat bot or something for the other person. And we had a really interesting discussion about it.

And so it's one of those things, right? Just like having a will, just like all of the other things that you have to do to prepare your kind of estate. It's important conversations that we need to have in advance. And so to add that to the list of conversations, the “do not AI,” I could not agree with that more.

Yeah, I think these are really good points. I mean, an overarching theme that we have had, a through line in our episodes, is about community. And so I think that's something that we're gonna continue to explore, not just choices and decisions that we make as individuals, but what are we doing as communities?

I think another big tension that we've talked about is like living in an online world versus in real life, you know, that online offline tension. And so it'll be interesting to see how that continues to play out.

I guess, you know, in terms of what I see going forward, this relates exactly to why I said I was very motivated to take up gardening and a plant-based journey is I think that the pandemic issue that we talked about in terms of like the avian flu, that's kind of trending in the wrong direction. And so being very vigilant about our personal health and very aware of where our food is coming from and just how we are, you know, some of those tough lessons learned from the pandemic about how things spread. So continuing to keep that up, I think that's something that it doesn't hurt to do at all, even if that was to completely disappear and be like a non-thing, we'd still be better off if we are just really taking care of ourselves and our health.

Yeah, I think it's less relevant for me, but I think, Sue, some of the signals you shared about pets, I think we're gonna continue to see innovation of, and the role of pets grow in our lives and pet rights and pet services and products. And so anyone who's working in that industry, I think you have a lot of room to run. That's something that has been happening that I think we'll just continue to see get bigger and it's global.

Like we've talked about, it's fun, it's creative. You know, so Sue, you talked about the creative process and Raakhee, you talked about like facing things head-on, right? This is real data, this is like real news in the world, but we're combining them and with that mindset, just seeing the world in a different way.

Any final words from either of you that you wanna contribute about this topic or year, what's coming up for you?

Raakhee: I mean, Sue, you just prompted me with this and I think you shared about the airspace, but, you know, Do Not AI was a big one for us this year. And I think clean up the skies, not just because of everything we've discussed, even on the aviation episode, but the very challenging wars that are happening across Europe and Middle East that also doesn't seem like a short-term reality. So there's some interesting dynamics between around this and our skies, but something about cleaning up our skies now. It's like we tend to take a place and then just, I don't know, do the human thing to it, but I think that's another interesting one. So, I’ll say that today’s episode has certainly brought that to light for me again.

[26:56]

But in wrapping us up, I think, wow, yeah, what a year, being on top of these signals, we've seen so many things coming before they've happened, which is really cool. I think we've all felt we've been ahead of the news cycle, which is a really cool feeling, to be like, oh, wow, yes, these, you know, we've seen it happening in real time. So that's exciting.

Lana, I know, I think you've mentioned you're gonna talk about this, but I think the other thing is to say to anyone listening is, I'm sure it's, you know, you hear all these signals and you get excited and you wanna take agency as well and do stuff. And I think next year, there's gonna be so much opportunity for that. We really want to give people more of what we're experiencing as well and how you can use all of this in really powerful ways in your life. So I have so much gratitude for you both and everything I've learned from you both this year.

What an incredible 2024, like, wow, unimaginable in so many ways. And looking forward to 2025, and I think it's gonna be a lot more action and activity and a lot more of that agency that we all get to exercise and things. So really looking forward to that.

Sue: That’s so wonderful, Raakhee. The only thing I would add to that is the realization that we cannot do this alone. You know, you both said it, really seeing the future and the possibilities that are available to you is only because we're doing this together and we all have different backgrounds, different experiences that really add to that perspective.

And so I would say that's something I'm looking forward to the New Year, is to growing the community, growing that kind of diversity of perspective because it's only gonna help us really create and enrich what these future possibilities look like.

Lana: Yeah, I think that’s exactly right.

So I guess for next year, one of the things that we wanna do is we're gonna start coffee chats with our listeners where we invite you to join us and continuing the conversation on a topic. And so if you wanna get in on that, if you wanna learn more about that, please make sure you go to our website, which is horizonshiftlab.com. At the very bottom, you can join our mailing list and sign up. And so you'll be the first to know when we're gonna start our coffee chats and those will be just for small groups. And so kind of intimate and engaging conversations about something that we've covered on the show. And so that's a good thing to do to get to find out more.

And, you know, also say, on our website, we provide the sources for all of our signals. And so if there's something that we talked about that's really sparked some curiosity for you and you wanna find out more, or if you wanna fact-check something that you heard where you're like, what, that can't possibly be true. We've listed all of our sources and everything that we say. And so you can always find that on our website, horizonshiftlab.com, there's a tab called Listen, and you click on the episode and you'll see all of our source material.

And so we share that with you because we know that there is a lot of misinformation in the world, and we wanna be very transparent about where we find our sources and build that trust with you.

And so those are kind of the big announcements. And otherwise, we wish everyone a very wonderful holiday season, a great close to 2024. And we are looking forward to being together with you in 2025.

[30:54]