What's going on here?
I started out professionally as a writer. Thinking through my fingers is the thing I enjoy most. Collision Detector is where I can continue to think out loud—analysis that's sometimes too tangential for clients, the residue of projects that won't fit in a talk, reviews that compel me to read with focus and think about what I'm consuming, and the odd culture post. It runs alongside the day job, not away from it. The things I work out here become the lenses I bring back to it.
And you're who?
I'm Scott Smith—futurist, researcher, writer, based in Barcelona. I studied economic history during the collapse of the Soviet Union and became a financial journalist during the sterling crash of the early '90s. Futures work is less about spotting the next collision than reading the one already underway.
In 2007 I founded Changeist, a strategic foresight consultancy, after fifteen years in forecasting and strategy across New York, DC, and London — for clients from UNDP to The Economist, the BBC, Samsung nd NYT R&D. I co-lead 10F Consortium, a network of analysts tracking post-globalization shifts.
In 202, I wrote a book about the future, How to Future, and in 2023 I co-wrote another, Future Cultures, with Susan Cox-Smith. I may yet wrote more. I've been a columnist for Quartz and written for WIRED UK, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and the Atlantic, among others.
I read contemporary folk horror, watch classic giallo, and listen to soundtracks. Most of the watching ends up on Letterboxd.
You and who else?
I've opened CD up to friends and colleagues who might write here over time. More eyes catch more collisions.
Where else can I find you?
If you want to get in touch about anything here, you can find me on:
Follow on the fediverse: @index@collisiondetector.com