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Konsynski and the art of looking into the future
The designation, Craft Professor of Decision and Information
Analysis, might sound dry, but the man who holds the position never does.
Benn Konsynski inspires students
to think, question, and challenge assumptions through classes and lectures
with titles such as “Technology, Magic, and SoBs” (students
of Benn) and “The Art and the Possible: The Future of Film and Immersion.”
Konsynski is a historian and a futurist who doesn’t need a crystal
ball. Instead, he delves into the domains of systems that leverage technology,
and studies where we have been to project where we are headed. The professor,
known for wearing dapper bow ties, says he was honored to speak recently
for the Great Teachers Lecture Series at the Miller-Ward Alumni House
earlier this year. “Academics have a passion to create and disseminate
knowledge,” he says. “It was a pleasure to see the strong interest
from an audience with broad diversity in age and background.”
The juxtaposition of magic and technology is a logical pairing for Konsynski.
Pulling an I-pod from his pocket he submits that only a decade ago, carrying
thousands of songs in your pocket would have been an alien concept, and
200 years ago it would have been magic. “Magic revealed and replicated
becomes technology,” he explains. He teaches that we need to reach
for magic in dreaming the impossible and making it happen, rather than
dwelling on different ways to apply the science we already have. “Magic,”
he says, “brings the will, aspiration, and purpose to conceive technology.”
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Futurist Benn Konsynski maintains a solid foundation in history is essential to predicting future events. |
Sharing information figures prominently in finding the
magic. “It is the only commodity you can give away and still have,
and it is also imminently recombinant. I can rip it apart, elementalize
it, unbundle it, and recombine it in new ways,” Konsynski says. He
cautions, however, that in this decade we will confront major issues surrounding
what we can do and what we should do, especially in areas such as privacy
and individual versus group rights.
“The future is best seen from a running start,” counsels Konsynski.
Looking at the future from a standing position causes one to miss trajectories
from key events in history.
“Those that stand in one place and predict are usually very poor
at it. They have a very shallow horizon and a poor sense of what is possible
in terms of adoption and assimilation in the market. That’s why I
always ask a CEO if they study history in general or have an appreciation
of their own history and the history of their market,” admits Konsynski.
“This informs their sense of the future. I test CEOs by getting a
sense of what history intrigues them, what history informs their views
and lenses looking forward.”
Another oft-quoted Konsynski principle is “generally the future is
already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” Example: Twenty
years ago, the Internet was already a reality, but it was only used by
a small group of scientists. Harnessing technologies for the masses is
a matter of identifying them and creating systems to make them popularly
available.
“My students accuse me of living in the future,” Konsynski says.
“I hope I can continue to leverage that to their benefit.”
—Francine Kaplan