DESRIST 2022

Keynote: Peter Singer

How to Use The Power of a Story Well Told

How do we better share new ideas and influence target audiences? How do we better understand and prepare for the future? How do we comprehend new trends and technologies? One answer may be to enlist the power of the oldest communication technology of all –story. Described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” P.W. Singer is a best-selling author of both nonfiction and fiction, whose work at the intersection of strategic foresight, discovery, and narrative has been featured in media like The Economist and Wired. He is also the founder of Useful Fiction LLC, a company that aids organizations in “telling their story” more effectively. Having worked for groups that range from the US military and CIA to Hollywood and the most popular video game in history, he will explain the “why” of narrative and “how” best to tell a useful story.

ABOUT PETER SINGER

Peter Warren Singer is Strategist at New America, a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and Founder & Managing Partner at Useful Fiction LLC.

A New York Times Bestselling author, described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment” and “all-around smart guy” in the Washington Post, he has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. No author, living or dead, has more books on the professional US military reading lists. His non-fiction books include Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Children at War, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century; Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know and most recently LikeWar, which explores how social media has changed war and politics. It was named an Amazon and Foreign Affairs book of the year and reviewed by Booklist as “LikeWar should be required reading for everyone living in a democracy and all who aspire to.” He is also the co-author of a new type of novel, using the format of a technothriller to communicate nonfiction research. Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War was both a top summer read and led to briefings everywhere from the White House to the Pentagon. His latest is Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It has been described by the creator of Lost and Watchmen as “A visionary new form of storytelling—a rollercoaster ride of science fiction blended with science fact,” and by the head of Army Cyber Command as “I loved Burn-In so much that I’ve already read it twice.”