The world is changing much faster. You’re either a chaser, maker, or adapter. Which? Read More >

What’s the foreseeable future for your industry? For Governments? Non-profits? Humankind? What changes are inevitable? And which will disrupt?

Rebecca Costa, author of international bestsellers, The Watchman’s Rattle and On the Verge, is recognized as one of the top futurists in the world today.  According to Costa the most important asset every individual and organization needs is foresight.  The second is the ability to “pre-dapt: to adapt to change before-the-fact.” Predaptation is the key to preempting future failure as well as spotting and capitalizing on opportunity ahead of others. 

Costa offers audiences a front row seat to what is headed our way five, ten, fifty and one hundred years out.  She demonstrates how technologies and scientific breakthroughs ranging from quantum computing, nanobots, AI, NFTs, and genetic engineering, robotics, neuro-implants and space-based solar, are destined to change the way we work and live, then offers practical actions leaders can take to get in front of change.

According to Costa, “We now know the probability of a person tripping and falling in the next week, the likelihood it will rain in the next 3 minutes, the approximate height a newborn will grow to as an adult.  We know what diseases a person is genetically predisposed to, how quickly every oil well in the world will drain its field, when and why a bridge, building or product will fail, and whether an employee is prone to lying, exaggerating, concealing or deflecting.  We know what provisional technology and science patents have been filed, where investment capital is flowing, and where universities are allocating research funding.  We know what new laws and regulations are under consideration in our own country and elsewhere.  We know what consumers are buying today, likely to buy tomorrow, and want to buy in the future.  With so much knowledge available, is there any reason to wait until change is kicking down the door?”

Using humor, real world examples, and story-telling, Rebecca Costa customizes every presentation to reflect the interests of the audience, always leaving them excited and wanting more. Want to know the future of the future?  Ask one of the most informed and compelling futurists to take the stage. Read Less ^

Over 90 percent of the world’s data has been produced within the last 24 months. Not only are we generating much more data than we can use, important decisions being made, based on information that is changing as fast as fast as a person can Tweet. As quantum computing, 5G and lightning-fast technologies proliferate, there’s no slowing down the deluge. Read More >

Is there a limit to how much information, complexity and change humans can manage? A point at which complexity impedes progress and individuals and organizations become gridlocked?

According to Rebecca Costa, there is. Throughout human history when the complexity of data and processes exceed the cognitive capabilities we have thus far evolved, 3 telltale signs begin to appear: 1) there is mass confusion between empirical facts and unproven beliefs (because facts are difficult to access or comprehend), 2) the confusion between unproven beliefs, opinion, dogma and empirical facts infects leadership, producing gridlock (a dangerous inability to resolve urgent problems), 3) over time an organization or society falls victim to irrational policy based on unproven beliefs which causes it to become vulnerable to a fast-moving, triggering event. The final result is collapse. Costa demonstrates how these 3 precursors to unilateral failure not only apply to all great civilizations, but also to once indominable industries, institutions and organizations.

HOWEVER - according to Costa, there is an antidote to growing complexity. We are making a transition from the Information Age - when faster data production and accessibility was the objective - to the Technolithic Era - when new technologies are paving the way for “computer-assisted decision making” in all areas of business, governance and daily life. She shows how AI, Quantum computing, machine-to-machine communications and learning, predictive analytics, 5G, bioengineering, nano and other technologies hold the key to triumphing in today’s complex, “high failure-rate environment,” and offers practical measures leaders can take to avoid the dangerous effects of information overload and gridlock. Read Less ^

Healthcare is on the move. And technologies aimed at delivering exponentially better outcomes at lower costs are leading the way. Read More >

According to globally acclaimed technology and science futurist, Rebecca Costa, innovative hospitals are now deploying facial recognition software to accurately assess patient pain and improve dosing. Rather than ask patients to subjectively rate their pain on a one-to-ten scale and rely on generic dosing schedules, these healthcare facilities are leveraging real data, in real time. What is more, they’re also using facial recognition to interview new hires - quickly identifying deflection, deception, nervousness, exaggeration, etc. – as well as analyze the fatigue and mental state of their staff, verify identities and employee movements, identify security threats, and more.

Costa claims the need to leverage technology to improve patient care has never been more urgent. And with price points dropping daily, never more practical. To this end, her presentations focus on what’s possible today, and probable tomorrow.

Costa shows how some U.S. healthcare and assisted living facilities have adopted sensor-based disposable diapers to head off downstream problems related to dehydration, UTI’s and vitamin and mineral deficiencies; how, in Asia, low-cost AI-powered social robots regularly visit patients, help them dress, lift them, keep track of their medications, and disinfect rooms; how single-passenger drones are replacing ambulances and helicopters; how 3-D printers are manufacturing replacement body parts to exact specifications inside surgery rooms; how headsets which vocalize the word a patient is thinking are giving incapacitated individuals a voice; how AI systems, such as IBM’s Watson, which bring the all published medical knowledge to bear on a patient’s diagnosis and treatment within nanoseconds, are becoming an indispensable tool in emergency rooms. These are just a few of the advances changing the face of healthcare today. More are on their way.

In the near future, mRNA technology will give rise to immunizations against cancers, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Nanobots, smaller than a single human cell, will be used to fight disease and perform surgical procedures inside the body. At the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia mammals have been removed from the mother’s uterus during the first trimester and brought to full term using “bio containers,” paving the way for human fetuses to be removed, matured, and birthed outside of at-risk women (welcomed news for females undergoing complications, have a history of miscarriages, face an unwanted pregnancy, or suffer from addiction).

These and other innovations are changing healthcare in exciting, more efficacious ways. Which institutions will be on the forefront of disruption? Build a bridge to a future of better care? No futurist is better equipped to show audiences real life examples of how technology is ushering in a new era of personalized medicine than Rebecca Costa. Read Less ^

Imagine a classroom where an educator could, in real time, determine how many, and which students understood the lesson they were presenting? Imagine educators from K through college being able to say to their class, “I see we’re having a little trouble with this part of the lesson, so let’s try another way.” Talk about no student left behind. In select schools today, educators are no longer waiting weeks to test and measure what students learned. They’re deploying inexpensive facial recognition software, arming teachers with a priceless, immediate feedback tool. According to technology and futurist, Rebecca Costa, the 2020 global pandemic kicked open the door for educational institutions to adopt new technologies, like facial recognition, faster than ever before. And with price points quickly falling, tools aimed at improving teacher efficacy and student learning have never been more affordable or easy to implement. Read More >

From AI programs which “learn” the specific weaknesses of a student and automatically alter coursework to strengthen those areas, to tools for “warming up” student’s brains at the start of the school day to make learning easier, to social robots which bond with and encourage students to make smart choices (“Hey Sally, instead of playing another video game, let’s go outside.” “Let’s do our homework so we can play a game.” “mmmm, I’m hungry for healthy snack like a banana, let’s go get one.”), education is on the move.

By showing what is possible, Costa not only inspires educators, but lays out a step-by-step process by which they can get started. Costa’s optimistic, powerful portrait of the future of education has audiences on their feet applauding and wanting more. Read Less ^