As a Futurist - Optimist or pessimist? personal view of future world - Conference keynote speaker

'You didn't say whether you're an optimist or a pessimist about the future so don't you talk a little bit about that.' 'I'm a profound optimist. I happen to think, if you just think about the technologies inside this room the innovations just exploding out, that are coming through the conveyor belt now where you're seeing 5 percent savings or 10 percent savings, or 50 percent savings, or you can do it with 20 percent less resource, or you can recover 85 percent more material than you did 2 years ago. I am an optimist through and through. But, I'm also cautious. I say we live in a world of huge risk, right now. And, you know, like when you're sailing a boat. You can't sail too close to the wind, or suddenly the wind changes a little, and you're thrown off course. And I believe our greatest risk right now is underestimating the amount of effort, and the amount of partnership that is needed, to achieve all this. But I believe that as we do that, that we will find a way to solve these wealth problems. They'll be solved in partnership, coalition, coopetition, utility companies working in partnership together, sharing technologies, investing in common innovations, learning best practice, together we can solve these things, I believe. Thank you.' 'Thank you.'