There are few ways to better display our ignorance than by speculating on the long-term future.

At the same time, making wise decisions depends upon both anticipating an uncertain future and the limits of what we can know.

As the world continues to deal with and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, this talk takes a broad look at global trends in place today, where they may be taking us, and the implications for thinking about catastrophes of the 21st century. The talk offers recommendations for what a robust and resilient global society might look like in the face of known, unknown and unknowable risks of the 21st century.