How the Future Shapes Our Lives – and How Our Lives Shape the Future. 64 pages in a pocket-sized format. That’s all it takes to explain the possibilities of the future—and how we can shape them. Or as Max puts it: “Sure, you could write 640 pages on the topic. But my idea was to create a book that everyone can carry in their pocket, read a few lines at a time, and then look at their own personal and professional life to see what new opportunities they have—and what they can do now to shape the future!” Order the book here – and in this case, the entire book price will be used to fund talks for students who otherwise couldn’t afford them. https://betterlivinggroup.sumupstore.com Max Thinius is Europe’s leading futurologist, and in this book, he illustrates how we shaped structural change during industrialization—and what we can learn from it to meaningfully shape the age of digitalization. He emphasizes the importance of positive thinking because only then can we transform the vast array …

f we want to shape the future, we must think of it in a positive way—focusing on possibilities rather than pessimistic probabilities. And suddenly, we realize that retail, craftsmanship, and a new ethical framework in our society are the #NextBigThing. We realize that small and medium-sized cities and regions have enormous growth potential and that we can free ourselves from today’s industrial norms. Instead, we can redefine business and life models for a sustainable and forward-thinking future. With digitalization, we gain countless new opportunities to shape our daily lives, society, and economy. In Europe, we are known not for developing meta-technologies like electricity or AI but, thanks to our diversity, for creating integrated applications that bring these innovations into everyday life. Germany and Europe are not lagging behind—we are simply positioned at a different point in the innovation cycle. The real challenge arises when we fail to recognize this and instead try to be “like others.” That’s why we should embrace the possibilities of digitalization to shape our future positively. Beyond technology, we must also …

What is a Futurologist? Futurologists are not the same as future researchers!Future researchers try to predict the future using data, statistics, and forecasting models. Futurologists, on the other hand, come from practice and include far more parameters in their considerations. They analyze which narratives have shaped past developments and why. They compare this with current societal culture and geopolitical dynamics—and instead of probabilities, they analyze possibilities. In other words, they explore how we can actively shape the future: This approach is also known as hermeneutic future research. For those who want to dive deeper: The Scientific Approach of Hermeneutic Future Research Future as an Interpretable Narrative Field 1. Max’s Core Idea Traditional future research often works with data models, trends, and forecasts. However, the future is not just a linear projection of data—it emerges from cultural, social, and psychological meaning systems (also called narratives or stories). Hermeneutic future research takes a different approach:It interprets the future as a narrative field shaped by history, values, symbols, and societal discourse—combined with current possibilities. 2. Principles of Hermeneutic Future Research 📌 Future as NarrativeThe future is not just a collection of facts but a woven tapestry of ideas, perceptions, …

How the Future Shapes Our Lives – and How We Shape the Future. 🌏 A look at the world today shows that shaping the future requires more than just technological innovation. It demands a geopolitical perspective, an understanding of technology’s real role, an awareness of which trends we truly need (if any), and answers to key questions: We have the chance to embrace excellence—a strategic approach that considers both our environment and global developments—and to reduce panic simply by understanding how our present and future connect across different life areas and on a global scale. 🎙️ Seeing the world not in black and white, but in possibilities. Even when the topics are deep, this keynote is highly entertaining. Because great stories are easier to remember—and easier to apply to everyday life, business, or regional development. The Future Doesn’t Just Happen – We Create It. 🔹 The Keynote: More Excellence, Less Panic. This talk provides essential insights, removes fears, and presents new possibilities—tailored to various industries and regions. And above all: it’s fun! How geopolitics, technology, and innovation shape our economy and society— and how we can actively participate. The future of our economy and society is built on different structures than those of industrialization. …

Starting today, digitization will transform our entire everyday life within the next 5-15 years. City centres will look different. Villages and smaller towns will have the chance to grow again, as more and more people will want to move to rural areas or small-/midsized towns. New digital metropolises may emerge in places that nobody thought possible. Of course, all this does not work automatically, but only if you do something about it. First of all, it is important to remember that the future thinks differently! Our industrial way of thinking is only making limited progress, and above all we are leaving many opportunities and possibilities out of the equation from the outset. This is all the more important because over 80% of our everyday life will change. That is again over 80% chances to improve it. You can’t do that with your head in the sand. But with networking of possibilities, of business, science, society, politics and their joint innovation. So let us concern ourselves with the new quality of life that digitization can bring …

When we talk about the future, we often talk about how everyday life will change. That means: on the one hand, we “only” have the new technology, but it will be used in all areas of our lives. So not only in our everyday life, in our profession or in individual areas, but in all 17 areas of life at the same time. This seems frightening to many people, because if something changes everywhere …. But the opposite is the case, because there are many possibilities. This list should help to divide life into smaller units and to take a closer look at what new opportunities are opening up there and how these can be newly networked in the sense of a greater quality of life and economy for as many people as possible. But let’s just think about industrialisation. In order for it to take hold, we didn’t just need the steam engine (aka the internet today). We also needed trade unions that fought for social laws, for health insurance, sick pay … otherwise …