Private wealth buys a new kind of public role.
Everyone expects
Exoskeletons help people at work.
What I found
Michigan just deputised Batman.
Advanced armour and physical augmentation go on sale. Wealthy enthusiasts do not all use them for industrial work. Some want to become the people who protect their neighbourhoods.
In this scenario, private vigilantism becomes an institutional question. A state grants powers to people whose ability to perform the role came from equipment they bought themselves.
The familiar superhero premise turns into a world of private capability, public authority and contested responsibility.
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This is an original public scenario. Bring your subject, research or planning question to develop a world and explore its consequences.
Strategic foresight and scenario developmentSwitch countries without moving house.
Everyone expectsDigital citizenship helps people move.
What if membership providers bundled the services associated with a country across territorial boundaries?
Follow how it could happenYour army’s on a subscription. So is the enemy’s.
Everyone expectsSmall countries buy their own armed forces.
Military research and obsolescence accelerate until smaller countries cannot keep up.
Follow how it could happen£10 a month buys you an MP.
Everyone expectsAI changes political messaging.
What if people subscribed to an organisation that recruited representatives and funded their political work?
Follow how it could happenA subject, a technology, a question or a body of research.