Fictitious Capital in our Global System

In this episode of the Futurized podcast, host Trond Arne Undheim interviews Taimur Ahmad, a Stanford graduate student focusing on policy and energy systems, and author of the Fictitious Capital newsletter. They discuss how the global paradigm of continuous progress and development is under threat and faces multiple, vastly misunderstood risks. Concurrently, there is heightened political polarization and a breakdown in constructive discourse. One of the reasons for this is the perpetuation of myths about how the global system works, resulting in a lot of “fictitious capital” atop which our civilization rests. Therefore, the only way to actively build a better future is to go beyond mainstream narratives and understand the base layer of our global system.  Futurized goes beneath the trends to track the underlying forces of disruption in tech, policy, business models, social dynamics and the environment. I’m your host, Trond Arne Undheim (@trondau), futurist, scholar, author, investor, and serial entrepreneur. I am a Research scholar in Global Systemic Risk, Innovation, and Policy at Stanford University. Join me as I discuss the societal impact of deep tech such as AI, blockchain, IoT, nanotech, quantum, robotics, and synthetic biology, and tackle topics such as entrepreneurship, trends, or the future of work. On the show, I interview smart people with a soul: founders, authors, executives, and other thought leaders, or even the occasional celebrity. Futurized is a bi-weekly show, preparing YOU to think about how to deal with the next decade's disruption, so you can succeed and thrive no matter what happens. If you're new to the show, seek particular topics, or you are looking for a great way to tell your friends about the show, which we always appreciate, we've got the episode categories. Those are at Futurized.org/episodes. They are collections of your favorite episodes organized by topic, such as Entrepreneurship, Trends, Emerging Tech, or The Future of Work. That'll help new listeners get a taste of everything that we do here, starting with a topic they are familiar with, or want to go deeper in. I am the co-author of Augmented Lean: A human-centric framework for managing frontline operations, and the author of Health Tech: Rebooting Society's Software, Hardware and Mindset, Future Tech: How to Capture Value from Disruptive industry Trends, Pandemic Aftermath: how Coronavirus changes Global Society and Disruption Games: How to Thrive on Serial Failure, and of Leadership From Below: How the Internet Generation Redefines the Workplace. For an overview, go to Trond's Books at Trondundheim.com/books At this stage, Futurized is lucky enough to have several sponsors. To check them out, go to Sponsors | Futurized - thoughts on our emerging future. If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, or to get an overview of other services provided by the host of this podcast, including how to book him for keynote speeches, please go to Futurized.org / store. We will consider all brands that have a demonstrably positive contribution to the future. Before you do anything else, make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter on Futurized.org, where you can find hundreds of episodes of conversations that matter to the future. I hope you can also leave a positive review on iTunes or in your favorite podcast player--it really matters to the future of this podcast.   Futurized—conversations that matter.