Cause for Optimism with RethinkX

Richard Gill is the CEO of RethinkX, an independent research organisation that analyses and forecasts the speed and scale of technology-driven disruption and its implications across society. After founding his first tech startup in the late 1980s, Richard went on to create leading edge technologies and products, and the startups that commercialise them globally. Here he explains to us why there is reason to be optimistic, despite some of the things we hear in the media. 

If you look at the news or social media, everyone is telling us we’re heading in the wrong direction. So I set out to understand if this is actually the case, to understand the evidence and see where it leads.

Evidence shows a profoundly different story to the perception we get from this global narrative of doom and gloom. In fact, it shows that we are actually building a new future that is so very much better than the one I was born into. A world where climate change will be reversing and so many of our most intractable problems can be solved - and all in my lifetime. In fact, the future looks better than it ever has.

This wonder that is emerging is hidden behind a cloud. New technologies are rapidly scaling that are changing everything. An end to climate change, social inequity, conflict and many of our toughest societal changes are now within reach.

Our goal is to help open eyes and help people see this incredible future that is emerging right now behind the clouds. To help them understand how to embrace the profound change we are going through and not to fear it. To understand that this better world is in our hands - we just need to grasp it, hold it close and see the change. Join us in bringing this understanding to the world.