I help organisations become future-fit. #Mindcandy scenario prompts are designed to stretch your imagination, sharpen situational awareness, and spark opportunity thinking.
Today’s scenario prompt: happy Xmas
The signals for today perfectly illustrate this year. Which means you have lots of things to think about over xmas.
I hope you enjoyed the mindcandies this year and I am wishing you a very happy xmas. Have a good one.
Today´s signals perfectly illustrate this year:
- Technology abstraction acceleration
- Synthetic personalities
- Pocket sized super computers
- Managing change and uncertainty
- Single cell robots
- Engineering bacteria into sensors
- Corporate story telling
- Self repairing quantum computers by recycling atoms
- AI consciousness
- The doomsday clock.
This isn’t VUCA anymore. It’s BANI: brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible. Prediction is pointless. The real advantage now is future fitness — the ability to sense earlier, decide under ambiguity, and adapt without waiting for clarity.
The 6 CEO questions to ponder
What am I still optimising that no longer matters?
2. Where is my organisation brittle?
3. What decisions am I postponing because they’re uncomfortable?
4. What does my role actually need to become?
5. Who is actually future-fit around me?
6. What will I deliberately stop protecting in 2026?
Lots of things to think about over Xmas. Have a good one.
All the prompts:
You are the upgrade
Data, acceleration, and the future of intelligence: Lessons from 25 core books (and links to 114 other books) about AI, technology abstraction, and consciousness.
https://www.ronimmink.com/product/a-book-about-books-about-ai/
‘Personality test’ shows how AI chatbots mimic human traits – and how they can be manipulated
The research team, led by the University of Cambridge and Google DeepMind, developed a method to measure and influence the synthetic ‘personality’ of 18 different large language models
World’s smallest AI supercomputer can fit in your pocket, run without server or GPUs
The pocket-sized, handheld device is capable of running 120-billion parameter LLMs.
https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/us-world-smallest-ai-supercomputer
3 things leaders need to know from McLean’s HR Trends 2026 report
Innovation becomes a top priority for HR. Currently only 41% of HR functions are highly effective at managing change and uncertainty – to move the needle, McLean calls on HR to “initiate scenario planning now”.
These Robots Are the Size of Single Cells and Cost Just a Penny Apiece
The microbots have tiny computers, sensors, and actuators. They can sense temperature and swim autonomously.
Implantable sensor uses engineered bacteria for wireless molecular tracking
Scientists from Turkey have designed a next-generation implantable biosensor using genetically engineered E. coli for molecular-level monitoring within the body that runs on its own, wirelessly, with no external batteries required.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-implantable-sensor-bacteria-wireless-molecular.html
Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’
Corporate America’s latest hot job is also one of the oldest in history: storyteller. Brands trying to wrest greater control of their narratives are asking for ‘storytelling’ skill sets
https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-are-desperately-seeking-storytellers-7b79f54e
Scientists build a quantum computer that can repair itself using recycled atoms
Like their conventional counterparts, quantum computers can also break down. They can sometimes lose the atoms they manipulate to function, which can stop calculations dead in their tracks.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientists-quantum-recycled-atoms.html
We may never be able to tell if AI becomes conscious, argues philosopher
A University of Cambridge philosopher argues that our evidence for what constitutes consciousness is far too limited to tell if or when artificial intelligence has made the leap – and a valid test for doing so will remain out of reach for the foreseeable future.
Who Sets the Doomsday Clock?
We’re driving at the edge of a cliff with dim headlights
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69505885/who-sets-the-doomsday-clock/
