WHAT-IF

100 Questions for the Future We Are Already Entering

【WoW】Word of the Week #2639 — Stillbolt Spark™

A near-future community, shared, green and open. Image by Author

Every future begins before it exists. It begins as a question. This week, there is no argument to win and no forecast to memorize. There are only doors: doors into how we might live, care, learn, work, belong, build, and become. Do not answer all 100. Notice the one that refuses to leave you.

Today we’re introducing another unique Word of the Week: WHAT-IF. Read on to see 100 “What-If” questions — small doors into how we might live, care, learn, work, belong, build, and become.

How the questions were developed

A daily research practice, not a one-day brainstorm. The 100-question field grew from the Stillbolt/INTEL™ Team’s ongoing attention to the human past, the pressures and possibilities of the present, early signals of change, and the lives of people who may inherit today’s choices decades or centuries from now. Research is translated into questions rather than forecasts so readers can examine possibilities without being told that one future is inevitable.

Why the long view matters. Past-through-future research gives us a wider lens on today. It helps us see both enduring needs and changing expectations: what people…