Mathew Burrows at The Interval: The Future Declassified hosted by Paul Saff...
Event Information
Description
The Long Now Foundation welcomes
veteran intelligence analyst and advisor Mathew Burrows
to discuss his new book The Future, Declassified:
Megatrends That Will Undo the World Unless We Take Action
Hosted by Long Now Board member Paul Saffo.
@ The Interval at Long Now: Doors open at 6:30; the talk begins at 7:30
Join us afterwards for drinks and conversation with our speaker
The Future, Declassified at once offers a compelling view of the challenges facing us in the decade ahead, and also provides a rare insight into the process of creating forecasts that connect with policy and strategic action.
—Paul Saffo, Long Now Board member; Stanford University; Discern Analytics
Mathew Burrows is Director of the Atlantic Council’s "Strategic Foresight Initiative", following a decade serving on the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) and many years as a CIA analyst and in various government posts. His expertise includes creating strategic forecasts to predict the long range future of the world for use by government leaders and the intelligence community.
In The Future, Declassified Burrows notes that we are living through some of the most momentous developments in history. Rampant urbanization; unprecedented and widespread aging; growth in a global middle class; an eastward shift in economic power; and a growing number of disruptive technologies. Even physical geography is changing as sea levels rise and the warming Arctic region is newly accessible.
The book concludes with four fictional paths to 02030 featuring imagined storylines and characters drawn from analysis by experts from across the intelligence community.
Mat Burrows has provided us all a map of the future landscape for decision makers at every level. Original, comprehensive and visionary it is vital reading for anyone who cares about the future of their children.
—Peter Schwartz, Long Now Board member; Futurist; author of The Art of the Long View
Burrows has analyzed the biggest challenges facing the world. Much of this work is classified, but the NIC's Global Trends report, produced every four years, is publicly available. It is used by the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, and many overseas governments. Burrows was the principal author of the last three editions of the report.
The Future, Declassified comes out on September 9th, 02014. You can pre-order it here and it will be on sale at the talk. We hope you can join us for what should be a remarkable evening of looking to the future of our world and the challenges ahead.
Dr. Mathew J. Burrows serves as director of the Atlantic Council's Strategic Foresight Initiative in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. He was appointed counselor to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in 02007 and director of the Analysis and Production Staff (APS) in 02010. He was the principal drafter for the NIC publication Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, which received widespread recognition and praise in the international media and among academics and think tanks. In 02005, he was asked to set up and direct the NIC's new Long Range Analysis Unit, later known as the Strategic Futures Group.
Burrows joined the CIA in 01986 and served as analyst for the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), covering Western Europe, including the development of European institutions such as the European Union. He served at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and has been special assistant to the US UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and deputy national security advisor to US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
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