We uncover what has worked best in history, and apply it, without agenda, to today’s biggest challenges.

how to get involved

  1. Pitch a Topic — Share a challenge or testbed for our methods.

  2. Partner or Support — Collaborate on research-to-pilot cycles.

  3. Join the Insider Newsletter — Early insights, pilot invitations, and field findings.

  4. Volunteer with Us - Share your time and skills

  5. Request us - To speak at events/ media inquiries/ other

  6. Donate - Support building futures that work.

Why the Bridge Era Matters

Civilization is in a phase change — a rare moment when multiple crises converge faster than legacy systems can adapt. Climate instability, economic fragility, collapsing trust in institutions, and information chaos are colliding, shaking the foundations of the world we know.

We call this unstable threshold the Bridge Era: the span between a world that no longer works and one not yet built. In this gap, our maps no longer match the terrain. Rules stop working, news becomes noise, and a quiet — and growing — unease signals the story itself is broken.

The good news: coherence can be rebuilt — where individual goals, institutional mission, and planetary resilience pull in the same direction.

How we do it differently

Our flagship method, Retrodictive Validation™ (RV), stress-tests ideas against the full sweep of history to identify what actually works — and discard what only sounds good.

From there, we scale the solution with Retrodictive Strategy Application™ (RSA) — matching those proven insights with the most effective adoption strategies in history.

In select projects, we add a final layer: a tested set of psychology-grounded frameworks that bring drive-level precision to strategic design.

Three levels of deployment:

  1. RV™ Alone — Accuracy.

  2. RV™ + RSA™ — Accuracy + Adoption Strategies.

  3. RV™ + RSA™ + Precision Frameworks — Accuracy + Adoption Strategies + Drive-Level Precision.

THE COMPASS & THE GUIDE

Complex challenges demand both accuracy and adoption.

Retrodictive Validation™ is the compass — pointing to what history proves works.

Retrodictive Strategy Application™ (RSA) is the guide — matching those validated ideas with the most effective, RV-tested strategies in history to ensure rapid, scalable change.

Together, the Compass and the Guide turn enduring insight into practical, real-world solutions.

What We Deliver

Repair what’s broken — Tools to realign incentives, narratives, and rules, from trust-scoring for media to governance compacts for AI.

Build what’s missing — New models for governance, finance, knowledge systems, civic culture, and environmental stewardship.

Catalyze entire fields — Pilots that shift cultures, rebuild trust, and align sectors toward collective flourishing.

Our Scope: The Decagon

Our work spans ten interconnected domains because coherence can’t be rebuilt in silos:

  1. Energy & Infrastructure

  2. Health & Wellbeing

  3. Education & Media

  4. Religion & Ethics

  5. Environment, Food & Water

  6. Law, Justice & Governance

  7. Economics & Employment

  8. Culture & Community

  9. Science & Technology

  10. Housing, Safety & Security

We begin with the Future of Employment & Income Initiative, designing systems for dignity and stability in the AI age — a proving ground for our methods.

Who’s Involved

  • Jim Clark

    Founder & CEO, The Bridge Era Institute

    Former Founder/CEO, The World Technology Network (WTN)

  • De Kai

    (Advisor)

    Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, HKUST; Distinguished Research Scholar, ICSI (Berkeley); Founding ACL Fellow

  • Gary Kazantsev

    (Advisor)

    Head of Quant Technology Strategy, Bloomberg; Adjunct Professor, IEOR, Columbia University

  • Ali Mostashari

    (Advisor)

    CEO, LifeNome; MIT PhD; AI for Humanity Initiative Co-Chair

  • Nouriel Roubini

    (Advisor)

    Professor Emeritus, Economics & International Business, NYU Stern; Founder, Roubini Macro Associates

  • Douglas Rushkoff

    (Advisor)

    Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics, Queens College, CUNY; Host, Team Human; Research Fellow, Institute for the Future; Author and Documentarian.

  • Moshe Y. Vardi

    (Advisor)

    University Professor and Karen Ostrum George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering, Rice University

  • Eric Williams

    Managing Director, The Bridge Era Institute

    Lead, The Future of Employment & Income Initiative

  • Irving Wladawsky-Berger

    (Advisor)

    Research Affiliate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management; Former Vice President of Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM

  • Amy Zalman

    (Advisor)

    Founder and CEO, Prescient; Professor of Foresight at Georgetown University