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Weak Signals 2025: A Magazine from the year 2046

Our 2025 Weak Signals review brings together a collection of surprising and thought-provoking real-world developments into a fictional issue of IF* magazine—challenging today’s assumptions and perspectives.

Astronauts and IF* magazine

Writers

Lilli Poussa

Specialist, Foresight and Training

Terhi Ylikoski

Specialist, Foresight and Training

Published

Sitra’s Weak Signals work highlights surprising, non-obvious, yet plausible, developments that could shape the future. The aim is to challenge prevailing assumptions and broaden the spectrum of possible futures—while also offering tools for identifying and interpreting weak signals. In an era of surprises, it’s essential to consider not only current megatrends but also alternative futures. Weak signals help us prepare for the unexpected, detect emerging shifts, and spark innovation.

The 2025 edition of the Weak Signals publication, presented as a fictional issue of IF* magazine, brings a range of possible futures to life. The stories are speculative glimpses into different futures, with each being grounded in real-world weak signals: events and phenomena that have already occurred somewhere. Rather than outlining a single scenario, the magazine offers snapshots of diverse potential futures.

Read here

Hand holding IF* magazzine

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IF*

This article takes you behind the scenes of the magazine, showcasing the signals that inspired the magazine’s content. The signals are grouped according to the stories in IF*, but each article’s idea is briefly explained so that readers can explore the signals even without reading the magazine. Each signal includes a title, a brief explanation, and a source with the date it was published or visited by the editorial team.

Further Reading:

  • Curious about how the Weak Signals work was carried out and why the publication takes the form of a magazine? You’ll find more details at the end of this article.
  • Looking for more background on weak signals and how to spot them? Check out the guide Weak Signals from the Future, published in January.
  • Want tips on how to make the most of the IF* magazine? Read more here: How to Use the IF* magazine.

Weak signals related to death

How might our relationship with death evolve when technology enables, for example, conversations with the deceased through artificial intelligence? The IF* magazine’s Self-Help column, titled “Final Departure,” explores a range of future services and practices related to dying and the afterlife—services people might one day use or create.

The article offers tips on digital death cleaning, digitally archiving your life, and curating personal data for a virtual afterlife. It also includes guidance on choosing a personal death doula and options for the final disposition of human remains.

The story is inspired by a variety of weak signals:

Page 7 of IF* magazine

  • Death doula. A trained companion who supports individuals in achieving a dignified and personalised death. Source: Suomen Doulat: Mikä on kuolindoula? 17.4.2025.
  • Digital death cleaning. The process of organising and cleaning up your digital footprint before death.Source: Why Everyone Needs a ‘Digital Death-Cleaning’ Plan. 10.9.2024.
  • Final video greeting. Tips for creating a meaningful and well-crafted farewell recording. Source: Dead Social. 17.4.2025.
  • Posthumous bot. An application that interviews the user in order to create a highly realistic digital persona that can interact on their behalf after death. Source: HereAfter. 17.4.2025.
  •  Conversations with a deceased spouse. An article exploring a journalist’s interactions with an AI version of their late partner. Source: The New York Times: Our last Impossible Conversation. 22.3.2024.
  •  Greetings from beyond the grave. The Afterlife service allows users to schedule various greetings for their loved ones years into the future—messages that will be delivered after they are no longer here. Source:Afterlife. 17.4.2025.
  •  Deceased critic back at work. The British newspaper The Evening Standard planned to resurrect its late star critic Brian Sewell using artificial intelligence to review a new exhibition at The National Gallery. Source: Deadline. 24.9.2024. London’s Historic Evening Standard Newspaper Plans To Revive Acerbic Art Critic Brian Sewell In AI Form As It Stops Daily Presses & Fires Journalists.
  • Body composting. An environmentally friendly burial method, body composting is gaining increasing interest as a sustainable alternative to traditional practices.
    Source: NPR: The ultimate green burial? Human composting lets you replenish the earth after death. 22.3.2025.
  • Citizens’ initiative to legalise body composting. The initiative proposes amending the Burial Act to include composting burials and water cremation as legal funeral options. Source:Kansalaisaloite.fi. 18.10.2024. Aloite 14246.
  • Ash scattering by drone. A scattering service locates emotionally meaningful places to release a loved one’s ashes into the air using a drone and has published resources such as The Good Scatter Guide 2024. In the future, GPS tracking could allow family members to follow the journey of the ashes. Source:Aerialashes.com. 17.4.2025.
  • AI-assisted advance care planning. Researchers are developing an artificial intelligence solution using a person’s accumulated personal data, which could propose what kinds of medical treatment a patient would likely prefer—such as decisions in the event of brain death.
    Source: MIT Technology review: End-of-life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help? 1.8.2024.

Weak signals related to neurotechnology and privacy

The accelerating pace of technological development is becoming increasingly visible in the services and devices people use in their everyday lives—both at work and during leisure. The article “I Think, Therefore I Share” in IF* magazine explores a future where neurotechnology that monitors the human nervous system and brain activity has become commonplace. The piece features interviews with individuals who use or relate to neurotechnology in different ways, alongside expert analysis of a situation where regulation in the field is tightening.
The article is informed by a range of weak signals—some directly related to neurotechnology, others more broadly connected to privacy or societal change.

Pages 8-11 of IF* magazine

Weak signals related to family life

What will families look like in 2046? Has the growing epidemic of loneliness finally been overcome? The article on pages 12–13 of JOS magazine presents a speculative solution for forming families: legal contracts.
The background of the article includes various weak signals, some related to families and communities, others to aging.

Pages 12-13 of IF* magazine.

New grandparents from social media? Facebook groups are being used to search for new family members. Source:Wired: Are You Lonely? Adopt a New Family on Facebook Today 28.1.2025

Weak signals related to food and well-being

What will be on our plates in 2046? And what kinds of health trends will be in the spotlight? On page 14 of JOS magazine, a reader shares a recipe for an algae–python stir-fry, claiming it’s especially beneficial for gut health. In their view, this has even improved their children’s ability to empathise with the elderly cohabitants in their household. Behind the recipe article are the following signals:

Page 14 of IF* magazine.

  • Snake meat on the table. According to researchers, pythons could provide a sustainable source of protein in our diet. Source:Snakes: The new, high-protein superfood. 9.1.2025. 
  • Bladderwrack on the plate. Bladderwrack, a type of seaweed found in the Baltic Sea, can be used to make dishes such as salads. Source: Metsästys & kalastus: Näin onnistut: rakkohaurun käsittely. 4.7.2023.
  • Gene-based diet. A service analyses users’ genes and tailors an ideal diet based on the results. Source: Nutrigenomix. 30.9.2024.
  • Diet recommendation based on stool and blood samples. The service provides dietary recommendations based on stool and blood samples as well as blood sugar monitoring. Source: ZOE. 30.9.2024.
  • The gut microbiome’s influence on decision-making. Research suggests that a specific dietary supplement made people more sensitive to unfairness. Source: HS: Ravinto­lisäkuuri teki herkemmäksi epä­reiluudelle. 20.5.2024.
  • Salt spoon. The salt spoon delivers the taste of salt without the harmful effects of actual salt. Source: “Electric Salt Spoon”, a spoon that uses electricity to enhance salty and umami taste. 20.5.2024.

Weak signals related to digital peace and travel

People’s desire to travel, experience, and see new places is unlikely to diminish—quite the opposite. As travel continues to grow, both its forms and the norms surrounding it are evolving. This includes shifts in how and where people choose to travel, and what they want to experience when they get there. The On the rails column in IF* magazine speculates that in a future world saturated with technology, digital peace and nostalgia for the past may become key selling points in tourism—while the dining experience features foods of the future. Behind the article are the following weak signals:

Page 15 of IF* magazine.

Weak signals related to activism

What might active citizenship look like in 2046? Will activism be a respected civic duty or a criminal act? On page 16 of JOS magazine, we meet Vieno Thapa, whose activism has led to imprisonment. The story is informed by a range of weak signals, some of which relate to civil society, power, and democracy, while others touch on privacy and gene technology.

Page 16 of IF* magazine.

Weak signals related to relationships and reproduction

What will forming relationships look like in 2046? Will people still date and start families, or will various AI applications and robots have taken on the role of a partner? On page 17 of JOS magazine, we visit a singles festival organized by the Ministry of Population, where young adults are searching for human partners. The story is informed by weak signals related to how states and cities are attempting to support human connection and reproduction.

Page 17 of IF* magazine.

Weak signals related to the human–animal relationship

What will animal life look like in the future? Which species will we consider family, and which will we see as resources and raw material? On page 18 of JOS magazine, the “species connection” column tells the story of a fictional dog owner and their dog, customized to be speckled and blue-crested. On the adjacent page, page 19, there’s an ad for a spare-organ pig—an animal grown in laboratory conditions as a backup source of organs or skin for a transplant. Behind these two stories lie, among others, the following signals:

Page 18-19 of IF* magazine.

Strange, surprising, confusing—more signals from the pages of IF* magazine

What do recent high school graduates wish for as graduation gifts? What does a world look like where space travel is part of everyday life? What does a house look like that can be moved to safety during the spring floods? The editorial, current affairs and wishlist columns, along with the photo of the month and the ad for the next issue of JOS magazine showcase a collection of intriguing individual signals.

Pages 3, 4, 5, 6, 17, 19 of IF* magazine.

How the IF* magazine was produced

Signal collection began in early spring 2024. The main responsibility for collecting signals lay with the compilers of the review, but the process was also crowdsourced to ensure a diversity of perspectives. Therefore, signals were gathered in various workshops involving both Sitra employees and stakeholders. In addition, we invited people to submit signals to Sitra in January–February 2025 via our “Submit a weak signal” website.

A total of 387 weak signals were collected at Sitra (You can find all the signals in this PDF file – in Finnish). In addition, 98 signals were received through Sitra’s “Submit a weak signal” website. All signals were categorised using the PESTEC framework. They were then analysed by grouping them into different phenomena. During the interpretation phase, particular attention was paid to the various themes the signals touched upon. For example, signals related to the development of artificial intelligence were not examined solely from a technological perspective but were also interpreted in terms of their potential effects on human behaviour, values and attitudes, the environment, and more. A single signal may often be just a coincidence, but by grouping signals, the aim was to identify societal phenomena and early signs of change. Multiple signals pointing to the same phenomenon help validate its existence.

Since our thinking about the future often follows familiar paths, we wanted the final publication to bring speculation about alternative futures to as concrete a level as possible. As futurists Stuart Candy and Jake Dunagan (2017) put it, there is an “experiential gulf” between how we usually talk about the future and how the future actually feels. The idea of a future-set magazine is to offer the reader an experience that touches not only the intellect but also the emotions. The goal was to create a publication that enables readers to explore possible futures. The magazine format was also chosen for its familiarity: magazines are mirrors of their time, and everyone has read one at some point. An intriguing contradiction also arises from the fact that magazines may not even exist in the future.

The signals that informed the magazine’s articles are presented in this article. Since a vast number of signals were collected, not all signals related to the same phenomenon are included here, but they can be explored in the aforementioned PDF file.

Once the signals had been grouped, they served as the basis for speculation and outlining the content of the magazine’s articles. This speculative work was carried out in workshops organised for Sitra employees as well as in separate sessions held by the authors of the review. Methods used in these workshops included the futures wheel, scenarios, and the Speculate on Futures tool published in January.

The form and content of the articles were guided by interpretations arising from weak signals. The subjectivity of interpretation is a challenge the team has tried to balance. Fortunately, we received a wealth of diverse perspectives from the many participants in various workshops—many thanks to them. However, it must be emphasised that each weak signal opens up multiple alternative future developments, and it is simply not possible to address them all.

IF* does not offer predictions about the future but rather a collection of speculations designed to support reflection on how the future might take shape based on weak signals. The aim is also to raise awareness of how present-day actions and choices influence the future, and to mitigate undesirable futures before they become our reality.

Speculating about futures forces us to consider the future broadly and, in the plural, and to critically examine the choices and decisions of the present. Speculation also invites discussion about the future and reflection on the kind of future we actually want to build.

Source: Candy, Dunagan (2017): Designing an experiential scenario: The People Who Vanished, Futures, Vol. 86.

Contact us
Author's profile page Lilli Poussa
Specialist, Foresight and Training

+358 294 618 336

Author's profile page Terhi Ylikoski
Specialist, Foresight and Training

+358 294 618 463

Aihe

Weak signals

In a time of surprises, old visions of the future are no longer enough. We need different stories about the future – a challenge to current narratives. That’s where weak signals can help.

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Weak Signals 2025: A Magazine from the year 2046

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A magazine from 2046: A glimpse into possible futures

What's this about?

Aihe

Weak signals

In a time of surprises, old visions of the future are no longer enough. We need different stories about the future – a challenge to current narratives. That’s where weak signals can help.

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Foresight and insight

Sitra produces long-term foresight data in anticipation of the future. In addition, we aim to support Finnish society in interpreting and making use of this data. This work will help decision-makers, companies, communities and individuals, to prepare for the future.

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