Innovation & Counter Intuitiveness

The idea behind Innovation is to create something new, that has yet to be conceived. A lot of the times that requires Counterintuitive thinking and that can be a very difficult challenge because it needs to break the habits in our thinking styles. For me the essence of being a futurist is the essence of innovation, two concepts which cannot be separated.

Here’s a few counterintuitive thoughts just to help shift perspectives:

The cure for baldness is to slow down hair growth, not speed it up!

Nappies encourage young children to remain toilet Un-trained for longer (especially at night!)

The key to reduction in water consumption can be clearly tied to the length of your hair!

Email us should you want some more explanation or find out from others that have worked with Marcus Barber in a ‘Think Different’ session. There really is method in this counterintuitive approach 🙂

2012 International Year of Resilience – top 10 Tips

Dec 20, 2011

In thinking about the year ahead I’ve decided to call it the International Year of Resilience. With everything that appears to be going on in the world there’s unlikely to be any quick fixes and so I provide for you here below, my Top 10 Tips for building more resilience into your lives. If you…

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Rising Household Energy Costs NOT due to Environmental Polices

Dec 15, 2011

The United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change has released a report that shows rising household energy costs are not caused by the apparent burden of environmental policies. Instead the core factor is increases in costs increases of Oil and Gas as the Energy resource sector taps into a ‘growth’ market.   You can have a…

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Official Reports for Travelers – who should you believe?

Dec 5, 2011

After a great although too brief trip to Islamabad in Pakistan, I joined Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Radio Darwin to discuss the idea of official reports for travelers and who you should believe. Sometimes we fear the unknown because we aren’t well enough informed. In the absence of any other information, the Official line is…

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The massive missing piece of Australia’s Tourism approach

Nov 24, 2011

It’s taken me a while to get the Tourism Thinking piece together given the extensive travel this year that has enabled me to assess where Australia’s tourism is not getting things right. This update won’t paint the full picture (a couple of clients have first crack at this research) but it is important enough to…

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A Wildcard to Top them all

Nov 16, 2011

I alert you from the outset that I’m about to make a massive leap of potentially an supportable scientific theory in discussing a potential Wildcard event. If you’re only interested in the concrete real stuff, head elsewhere after you get about half way. I’m going to make a massive leap first of all and then…

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Asteroid Management and Mining

Nov 10, 2011

n this MP3 with Paul Dale on ABC Darwin radio we chat about the recent fly past of a large chunk of rock called Asteroid YU55, and what we might do as a species in managing a potential Asteroid impact. We also diverge into the concept of mining Asteroids for their mineral content as the…

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Futurist Marcus Barber discusses the Future of Sex (Part Two) on ABC Darwin with Vicki Kerrigan

Nov 10, 2011

The MP3 file below captures part two of our chat looking at the Future of Sex. Picking up on the theme of new technology that popped up towards the end of our first discussion in week one, here we move onto haptics and holographics and the extension of that technology from beyond the bedroom and…

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History as Future – TV Show Who’s Been Sleeping in My House?

Nov 8, 2011

Who’s Been Sleeping In My House? is a new Australian series presented by archaeologist Adam Ford that looks at the stories behind some of our old homes. Adam is the man behind the recent ‘Ned Kelly’ dig among other great archaeology finds here in Australia and the UK. As a futurist I’m always interested in…

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Professional Futurists running their Follow The Sun Futures Program

Oct 25, 2011

The Association of Professional Futures is holding its first Virtual Gathering, following the sun from Europe, across North America and finishing in the Australia pacific zone. It kicks off tomorrow and links to the program and registration (it’s only $45 for guests for a program featuring some of the worlds most prominent futurists)   You…

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Marcus Barber on ABC Darwin – the Future of Sex Part 2

Oct 24, 2011

I join Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Darwin radio where we continue our discussion about the future of sex. We consider three main areas in this session – smart phone applications; remote relationships and the combination of haptics and holographics as one the emerging means by which we’ll maintain physical contact.   You can download the…

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