The Post COVID Social Contract Trilemma with Bronwyn Williams

The Post COVID Social Contract Trilemma is a conversation hosted by hosted by David Wood, Chair of London Futurists, and Bronwyn Williams.

In any time of prolonged crisis, our responses depend on “the ideas that are lying around”. But what if the various ideas that are growing in popularity, for adoption in a post-COVID social contract, are in profound tension with each other?

This London Futurists webinar featured Bronwyn Williams, economist, futurist, business trend analyst, and partner at Flux Trends. Bronwyn drew attention to a growing “trilemma” of choice, highlighting potential contradictions between BTC (Bitcoin), along with other cryptocurrencies, MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), with its focus on a “Job Guarantee”, UBI (Universal Basic Income), with payments independent of employment status, 4D Geopolitics, The Doughnut Economy, FALC (Fully Automated Luxury Communism/Capitalism), Neo Feudalism, Metaversonomics, CBDCs, and OBI. As Bronwyn demonstrated, thinking through the potential interactions of these different ideas can allow us to identify creative new possibilities ahead of time.

About Bronwyn Williams

Bronwyn Williams is a Futurist, Economist and Business Trends Analyst.

Bronwyn has over a decade’s experience in strategic management, trend research and foresight; consulting to clients in the public and private sector across the African continent. Her educational credentials include tertiary qualifications in Marketing Management (University of Johannesburg), Economics (University of London), Foresight (University of Manchester), and Future Studies (University of Stellenbosch). She is currently completing a Masters in Applied Economics from the University of Bath.

Today, as a partner at Flux Trends, Bronwyn’s research focuses on how macro socio-economic trends and emerging technologies will impact businesses, industries, and nations in the near and long term future. Part economist, part strategist, Bronwyn’s particular areas of expertise include fintech trends, alternative economic models, and sustainable future design.

Bronwyn’s clients include Top 40 JSE listed companies, The South African Reserve Bank, African government departments, and global business leaders. She also guest lectures for leading business schools, such as Duke, GIBS, UCT, and the University of Johannesburg. Bronwyn is also the co-author of The Future Starts Now, published by Bloomsbury UK, and a well- known media commentator on future trends and economic trajectories for network channels including CNBC Africa and ENCA News.

About Nikolas Badminton

Nikolas Badminton is a world-renowned futurist speaker, consultant, researcher, and media producer. He helps trillion-dollar companies, progressive governments and the media shift their mindset from “what is” to “WHAT IF…” The result is empowered employees, new innovative products and incredible growth that leads to more revenues and a more resilient future.

Nikolas advised Robert Downey Jr.’s team for the ‘Age of A.I.’ documentary series, starred in ‘SMART DRUGS – a Futurist’s journey into biohacking’, and features on CTV, Global News, Sirius XM regularly. His mind-expanding research and opinion can be found on BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Sputnik and Venturebeat. 

Nikolas provides the opening chapter – ‘Start with Dystopia’ in a new book – ‘The Future Starts Now: Expert Insights into the Future of Business, Technology and Society’ for Bloomsbury. He is currently researching and writing a new book that equips executives and world leaders with insights and foresight tools to imagine disruption, strengthen strategic planning, and see unforeseen risks.Nikolas is a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – The RSA. The organization has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years with notable past fellows including Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, and Tim Berners-Lee.