SIGNALS FROM
THE FUTURE.
10 MINUTE READ. PUBLISHED 15 DEC 2025.
CREATIVE COMMONS CC BY ELECTRO STRATEGY STUDIO. WRITTEN BY ADRIAN JARVIS.
TL;DR A better future is already visible in small, practical shifts: builders setting the tone, AI behaving like quiet infrastructure, public assets treated as core systems, markets rewarding patience and arguments grounded in evidence rather than myths. Here is a short field guide to those signals, so leaders can spot where things are genuinely moving in the right direction and decide where they want to build next.
CREDIT: Seres Factory / Chongqing City, China
DECODING A WORLD REDEFINED BY COMPUTE AND CULTURE WARS.
The future is opaque. Sometime around the Millennium we stopped imagining futuristic skylines, magical technologies and gull-wing vehicles that could silently float through our cities. All the while, computing and our expectations from life accelerated. Perhaps we started looking back nostalgically to a safer, known past that we survived than a future framed by division and extinction?
Against the noise positive signals are harder to see; from markets, culture, politics and a media-framed spectacle. Though when we scratch the surface of how we work, how cities really pulse, how data can be used, what AI can achieve for our everyday, there is a vision that’s bigger and better than we have become conditioned to imagine.
This article maps 10 signals. They are not predictions, rather practical clues that things can shift in the right direction... and a point to ask, where do we want to build next?
1. THE BUILDERS ARE BACK.
A better future starts when the builders set the agenda. When we talk more about making, fixing and learning, instead of narratives. When engineers, designers and operators sit in the same room as stakeholders, technology is framed as an aid to innovation.
e.g. China’s lighthouse factories bring engineers, operators and digital teams together; to design data-driven lines that raises productivity and reduce energy.
When builders have a mic, progress becomes something you can feel and point at.
2. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS BORING.
There are strong signals that AI has started to feel boring. Like the internet, AI is becoming an almost systemic electricity; always there and quietly useful. We are talking about more imagination than hallucinations. And, as we focus on invention, AI guidelines are starting to inform better design.
e.g. Predictive maintenance for trains at Deutsche Bahn uses AI to monitor assets and predict failures, so that maintenance can be planned calmly and efficiently in advance.
People are staying in charge, while machines take the grind and spark our creativity.
3. PUBLIC ASSETS ARE CHERISHED.
A better future needs hospitals, schools, and local services that work for the communities they serve. Public assets are the base layer of an economy aiming for prosperity and equity. As we design systems that recognise barriers and disadvantage, the debate shifts to outcomes rather than profit. Participation leads to greater sharing of data, failures and fixes.
e.g. Finland’s comprehensive school system is non-selective and public, with consistently strong outcomes and a focus on social equity.
When public systems are stable and available, we can lean into risk and innovation.
CREDIT: Lumit Art High School / Lukkaroinen Architects
4. MARKETS REWARD PATIENCE.
Short-term views of markets cause economies to overheat and crash. Better futures focus on longer-term horizons. We are starting to talk about corporate health in 2035, not just Q4. Investors are supporting steady, boring infrastructure: rail, grids, housing, local manufacturing. Returns from extractive, exploitative models are slowly coming under pressure from regulation and public opinion.
e.g. Europe created Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIFs) that channel capital into infrastructure, small businesses and assets that have long-term horizons.
When patience is back in fashion, everyone can plan: companies, families, civic leaders...
5. CLARITY REPLACES CHARADES.
Debate is hard when it starts with ideology rather than evidence. Claims about tax, immigration, crime or climate need a link to published data. We need to show uncertainty and context, while accepting that two things can be true at once. Data does not solve political manipulation, though, it does make lying harder. There is value in facts over fiction.
e.g FullFact.org checks claims from politicians and media on a range of topics, linking claims to primary data and sources.
It is modest progress; verified claims are the foundation for building a better future.
6. CLIMATE IS LOCAL.
The strongest climate signal is the everyday work on grids, homes and streets. City budgets in cities from Helsinki to Seoul are starting to match plans to reduce congestion and emissions. Heat pumps and public transport are no longer political statements. Industry and logistics are exploring pathways for tackling demands for both growth and sustainability.
e.g. Seoul’s Climate Action Plan 2050 creates links between building retrofits, district heating, public transport and renewable energy... at city scale.
When climate planning feels like action, progress is actually happening.
CREDIT: Mohit Kumar / Unsplash
7. WORK RESPECTS FOCUS.
Better futures need productivity and intent, especially against a backdrop of digital noise. While Slack threads and back-to-back calls tend to flatten judgement, teams that have ‘focus time’ often solve our hardest problems. As we encourage less redundant effort, we are starting to remember that often “great things take time” and the right time is important.
e.g. Across the world, 4-Day Week Pilots have trialled reduced hours with the same pay. Data from the UK show stable or improved productivity, lower burnout and higher employee retention.
Quiet time and space to think is a commercial necessity... and a social good.
8. CITIES ARE KINDER.
We care about places, from their heritage to active culture. Our future is showing up in streets. Pavements are wider, crossings are safer and public spaces are better looked after. Local communities want a balance of chains with independents. Civic activity is economic policy, beyond fixing social issues and promoting shopping.
e.g. Paris is moving towards a 15-minute city model, redesigning areas so that daily needs are within a short walk, skate or cycle. Creating more liveable neighbourhoods, though not avoiding imagined conspiracy.
When a city feels kinder for everyone, things are moving in the right direction.
9. VALUE TAKES ON TALK.
Narratives about technology and sustainability have become a smoke screen in many companies. A better future comes from a clear north star, must-win battles and proof of concrete value. Straightforward, honest propositions that anyone can recognise. Experience beats paid media.
e.g. IKEA invests in store layout, self-service journeys and support design. The experience of buying, assembling and using products increasingly matches their brand promise of affordable, practical living.
Beyond telling stories, real experience beats propaganda.
10. MAKING AT THE EDGES.
The last signal is personal: the steady hum of people making things that do not fit into neat categories. Musicians, coders, writers and makers who have stopped waiting for permission; small collectives form and flex around shared interests.
e.g. Founders of Tokyo’s Hackerspace created a rural hacker farm outside Kamogawa in Japan, where a community of makers experiment with electronics, agritech and DIY tools.
This is where the future comes from... the margins, years before most people notice.
CREDIT: Hackerfarm / Kamogawa, Japan
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This article was written by Adrian Jarvis, who founded Electro, an independent strategy studio based in London. Building on a master’s degree in AI and System Dynamics, Adrian has over 30 years experience of working with enterprises of all sizes. The principles discussed here are highly scalable from start-ups to multinationals, across a range of categories. Find out more.