Johannes Kleske
@jkleske.bsky.social
Helping people make sense of futures, johanneskleske.com
What if Michael Burry just shortened a couple of tech stocks to create attention for the launch of his substack?
November 25, 2025 at 8:01 AM
What if Michael Burry just shortened a couple of tech stocks to create attention for the launch of his substack?
Why am I not surprised that it is the FT that delivers the most accurate and brutal report on the current state of the German economy while the German media seems to be either in denial or trying to deliver the message gently (like ZEIT titling “It's not going so well anymore” in September)?
November 20, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Why am I not surprised that it is the FT that delivers the most accurate and brutal report on the current state of the German economy while the German media seems to be either in denial or trying to deliver the message gently (like ZEIT titling “It's not going so well anymore” in September)?
Trying to deconstruct the intersecting but often contradictory concepts of the Dark Enlightenment, Neo-Integralism/Christian Nationalism, Caesarism, and Thiel's antichrist/katechon obsession might be the most abyss-gazey thing I've done in years.
November 17, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Trying to deconstruct the intersecting but often contradictory concepts of the Dark Enlightenment, Neo-Integralism/Christian Nationalism, Caesarism, and Thiel's antichrist/katechon obsession might be the most abyss-gazey thing I've done in years.
Christmas came early youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
clipping.: Tiny Desk Concert
Lars Gotrich | October 31, 2025
The pot lid didn't sound the way we wanted. "What about our Webby?" I suggested. The award statue's metallic spring had just the right amount of wobble — a ride cymbal…
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Christmas came early youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
“Totally! AGI is such a bullshit term they dreamed up to turn science fiction tropes into venture capital. Oh, wait! You were talking about AI hallucinating, not its hype-men.”
October 3, 2025 at 8:46 AM
“Totally! AGI is such a bullshit term they dreamed up to turn science fiction tropes into venture capital. Oh, wait! You were talking about AI hallucinating, not its hype-men.”
“What we’re seeing isn’t merely a peace process – it’s a three-way negotiation where territorial settlements, corporate restoration, and reconstruction contracts are being horse-traded in real time.” – Adrian Monck
7thin.gs/p/ukraine-pe...
7thin.gs/p/ukraine-pe...
The Uncomfortable Economics of Making Peace in Ukraine
When corporations become diplomats, whose interests are really being served?
7thin.gs
August 30, 2025 at 6:58 AM
“What we’re seeing isn’t merely a peace process – it’s a three-way negotiation where territorial settlements, corporate restoration, and reconstruction contracts are being horse-traded in real time.” – Adrian Monck
7thin.gs/p/ukraine-pe...
7thin.gs/p/ukraine-pe...
Now that the trade market for AI researchers is hotter than sports, I can't wait for the Netflix documentary "Scale to Survive"
August 1, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Now that the trade market for AI researchers is hotter than sports, I can't wait for the Netflix documentary "Scale to Survive"
Quoting Altman and Amodei on the future of A(G)I is like quoting the pope on the existence of God.
July 26, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Quoting Altman and Amodei on the future of A(G)I is like quoting the pope on the existence of God.
Maybe my favorite talk from #FutureDays25 just dropped on YouTube:
Simon Höher at Future Days 2025
Unthinkable FuturesWhat if the futures we really need… can’t yet be imagined?At FD25, Simon Höher (Dark Matter Labs) invites us to explore the paradox at the...
buff.ly
July 8, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Maybe my favorite talk from #FutureDays25 just dropped on YouTube:
“It's about a group behavior pattern around a particular class of object. What I do is pattern recognition.”
This quote went on our first Third Wave website in 2011. To this day, it's still the most on-point summary of what I do. 🧵
This quote went on our first Third Wave website in 2011. To this day, it's still the most on-point summary of what I do. 🧵
July 1, 2025 at 10:12 AM
“It's about a group behavior pattern around a particular class of object. What I do is pattern recognition.”
This quote went on our first Third Wave website in 2011. To this day, it's still the most on-point summary of what I do. 🧵
This quote went on our first Third Wave website in 2011. To this day, it's still the most on-point summary of what I do. 🧵
“Everybody who's not a leader, please clear the room.” buff.ly/4wcOkJF
June 19, 2025 at 8:30 AM
“Everybody who's not a leader, please clear the room.” buff.ly/4wcOkJF
GLP-1, mRNA, CRISPR—the scientific arsenal expands while healthcare's imagination contracts. The limiting factor isn't technology but our capacity to envision radical transformation. Technology isn't your bottleneck. Your thinking is.
May 27, 2025 at 1:59 PM
GLP-1, mRNA, CRISPR—the scientific arsenal expands while healthcare's imagination contracts. The limiting factor isn't technology but our capacity to envision radical transformation. Technology isn't your bottleneck. Your thinking is.
What story are you telling about the future? Better yet—what story is your customer telling? The gap between these narratives represents your strategic vulnerability. Close it before someone else does.
May 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
What story are you telling about the future? Better yet—what story is your customer telling? The gap between these narratives represents your strategic vulnerability. Close it before someone else does.
The ATM approach to innovation: Most providers Avoid crucial decisions, Talk endlessly about change, then frantically Mimic first movers when it's already too late.
Break this cycle.
Break this cycle.
May 26, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The ATM approach to innovation: Most providers Avoid crucial decisions, Talk endlessly about change, then frantically Mimic first movers when it's already too late.
Break this cycle.
Break this cycle.
Control your images of the future—or others will do it for you. Sam Altman's AGI narrative isn't inevitability; it's strategy. What alternative future could better serve YOUR values?
May 21, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Control your images of the future—or others will do it for you. Sam Altman's AGI narrative isn't inevitability; it's strategy. What alternative future could better serve YOUR values?
German corporate mindset: “Wait and see,” then “copy and paste.” Result? Perpetually playing catch-up.
The alternative? Critical foresight—asking deeper questions, finding your own path forward despite the risk.
The alternative? Critical foresight—asking deeper questions, finding your own path forward despite the risk.
May 20, 2025 at 1:59 PM
German corporate mindset: “Wait and see,” then “copy and paste.” Result? Perpetually playing catch-up.
The alternative? Critical foresight—asking deeper questions, finding your own path forward despite the risk.
The alternative? Critical foresight—asking deeper questions, finding your own path forward despite the risk.
Your strategic blind spot? Those “future imaginaries” you take for granted. Every AI strategy starts with unquestioned assumptions. Critical futurists ask, whose values and agenda are embedded in your roadmap?
May 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Your strategic blind spot? Those “future imaginaries” you take for granted. Every AI strategy starts with unquestioned assumptions. Critical futurists ask, whose values and agenda are embedded in your roadmap?
The future isn't fixed—it's performative. The more we collectively repeat narratives about AI, the metaverse, or crypto, the more likely they materialize. Who benefits from the future you're buying into?
May 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The future isn't fixed—it's performative. The more we collectively repeat narratives about AI, the metaverse, or crypto, the more likely they materialize. Who benefits from the future you're buying into?
“AI first” is not a strategy. It's a PR campaign.
May 19, 2025 at 8:14 AM
“AI first” is not a strategy. It's a PR campaign.
Want to know why the German economy is in shambles? The fact that we're discussing fixing it by working longer might give you a clue.
May 18, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Want to know why the German economy is in shambles? The fact that we're discussing fixing it by working longer might give you a clue.
I was at Koro yesterday, doing an interactive session with the employees about futures work. Here are some of the approaches we discussed:
May 18, 2025 at 9:32 AM
I was at Koro yesterday, doing an interactive session with the employees about futures work. Here are some of the approaches we discussed:
The mistake in most futures discussions? Focusing on what we fight against rather than what we fight for. Car-free cities aren't about loss—they're about children playing freely, trees replacing parking lots, and culture in spaces cars once dominated.
May 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The mistake in most futures discussions? Focusing on what we fight against rather than what we fight for. Car-free cities aren't about loss—they're about children playing freely, trees replacing parking lots, and culture in spaces cars once dominated.
Performative futures are dangerous—if we keep saying “X is inevitable,” we start behaving as if it's already happened. Such behavior shapes reality to make that future more likely, often without conscious intention.
May 17, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Performative futures are dangerous—if we keep saying “X is inevitable,” we start behaving as if it's already happened. Such behavior shapes reality to make that future more likely, often without conscious intention.
Most “vision statements” fail because they lack narrative richness. Don't tell me you imagine “a healthy society”—show me what breakfast looks like in that world. Make it close enough to reality that I can taste it.
May 16, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Most “vision statements” fail because they lack narrative richness. Don't tell me you imagine “a healthy society”—show me what breakfast looks like in that world. Make it close enough to reality that I can taste it.
Present futures vs. future presents—the future already exists in our heads as expectations, hopes, and anxieties. This phenomenon shapes our behavior more profoundly than any “actual future” ever will.
May 16, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Present futures vs. future presents—the future already exists in our heads as expectations, hopes, and anxieties. This phenomenon shapes our behavior more profoundly than any “actual future” ever will.