We cannot name with a degree of absolute certainty who said that “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future!” but somehow we all agree that the past is prologue. It is generally accepted that as technologies mature they often rebound on themselves (we go from mainframes to cloud computing). At the end of our first IRL framework event we have gathered an august panel to say clever things that will be misattributed and to address the massive changes in front of us with our lived experiences.

On the technical side we have things like AI and the global aftereffects of a pandemic along with global political events beyond our control. But we are an industry of borrowers who have crafted fantastic moments with tools that were originally intended for other much more serious industries. As individuals our task is to see what is before us that we can perversely warp into a new tool for the imagination.

Just as important we have a responsibility as an industry to be more tolerant and more inclusive. Much of what we have is built on the curiosity of one person who was lucky enough to have support and a client with an appetite for risk. If you are mining LinkedIn or Instagram for the future you are looking in the wrong place.

This panel led by Matt Ward, will try to place these new technologies in a historical context responding specifically to things that we heard during the conference as well as broader technological and commercial trends. Joining Matt will be Ash Nehru, JT Rooney and Kate Dawkins.

There will be predictions.