#Mindcandy are scenario prompts to help companies formulate strategy. Also see https://www.ronimmink.com/strategy-development/.
- If you need help with developing these prompts, or want to shoot the breeze and talk about books, strategy, leadership, innovation and future trends, you can book a free appointment here.
- If you want me to speak at your event, or book me as a coach, contact me at ron@ronimmink.com
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How to use the prompts
Use these prompts to explore their relevance, assess opportunities and threats, and analyse timelines and impacts on your organisation. Consider multiple possible futures across 1, 3, 5, and 10 years time horizons.
Scenario prompts 23 April 2025
Todays prompts are the quantum future, ultra-thin electronic skin, mechanobiology, Kevin Kelly, frontier firms, the generalist advantage, self-replicating machines, magnetic metabots, thinking like a futurist, computational embodiment, food in space and gene-edited super-soldiers.
Empower everyone to think like a futurist
Seven Ways Berkeley Lab is Pioneering the Quantum Future
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2025/04/23/seven-ways-berkeley-lab-is-pioneering-the-quantum-future/
Groundbreaking research spans the quantum ecosystem, from qubits to sensors to quantum computing networks.
New electronic “skin” could enable lightweight night-vision glasses
https://news.mit.edu/2025/new-electronic-skin-could-enable-lightweight-night-vision-glasses-0423
MIT engineers have developed a technique to grow and peel ultrathin “skins” of electronic material. The method could pave the way for new classes of electronic devices, such as ultrathin wearable sensors, flexible transistors and computing elements, and highly sensitive and compact imaging devices.
Your cells can hear
https://superinnovators.com/2025/04/your-cells-can-hear/
Researchers have been inspired by research in mechanobiology and body-conducted sound — the sound environment in body tissues — indicating that acoustic pressure transmitted by sound may be sufficient to induce cellular responses.
How to Predict the Future Like Kevin Kelly
https://every.to/podcast/how-to-predict-the-future-like-kevin-kelly
He was early to the internet, VR, crypto—and now AI. The ‘Wired’ cofounder on exploring the edges of what’s next
2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/2025-the-year-the-frontier-firm-is-born
Intelligence on tap will rewire business. Every leader needs a new blueprint.
The Generalist Advantage: The New C-Suite Superpower
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hvmacarthur/2025/04/22/the-generalist-advantage-the-new-c-suite-superpower/
As companies navigate complex global markets and disruptive technologies, a new type of leader is emerging: the generalist. These executives possess a broad range of skills and experiences, enabling them to connect disparate ideas, adapt to change and drive innovation across the organization.
Self-replicating machine: Maker presents 3D printer from the 3D printer
A 3D printer whose core mechanical and electrical components were manufactured using the 3D printing process.
Magnetic ‘metabot’ can expand, assume new shapes, and move like a robot—but without motor or internal gears
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-magnetic-metabot-assume-robot-motor.html
Engineers have created a type of material that can expand, assume new shapes, move and follow electromagnetic commands like a remotely controlled robot, even though it lacks any motor or internal gears.
Is Your Organization Built to Survive–and Grow–Through Economic Uncertainty?
https://www.burrus.com/is-your-organization-built-to-survive-and-grow-through-economic-uncertainty/
Empower everyone to think like a futurist. See https://www.ronimmink.com/strategy-development/
What if AI can already ‘feel’?
https://stateofthefuture.substack.com/p/what-if-ai-can-already-feel
AI Already Has a Body: Just Not One We Recognise. This computational embodiment encompasses hardware-level awareness: direct sensing of CPU temperature, clock speeds, voltage fluctuations, and cooling system status providing “bodily” feedback about operational state.
Mission to boldly grow food in space labs blasts off
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp34wzql2xvo
Steak, mashed potatoes and desserts for astronauts could soon be grown from individual cells in space if an experiment launched into orbit today is successful.
Gene-edited super-soldiers with AI power could be unleashed by China, warns US report
https://interestingengineering.com/military/china-genetically-enhanced-super-soldiers
At the core of this modification is China’s strategic vision to build a world-class military by 2049, focusing on “intelligent warfare.”
