Roger Spitz to Speak at TEDxJacksonville 2027 on Techistentialism, the Philosophy He Coined a Decade Ago

Roger Spitz Keynote – MIT Technology Review EmTech (Brazil)

The Future of Strategic Decision-Making (R Spitz, Journal of Futures Studies)

Roger Spitz Media Interviews – London

Ranked among the world’s top futurists, the AI keynote speaker brings the thinking behind his Intelligence Shift to the TEDx stage in January 2027

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Roger Spitz, the AI futurist and keynote speaker who coined Techistentialism in 2016, will speak at TEDxJacksonville 2027 on Saturday, January 16, 2027, at the Lazzara Performance Hall, University of North Florida. TEDxJacksonville announced its 2027 speaker lineup in October 2026 under the conference theme You Are Here — built, in the organizers’ words, on “a simple belief: the struggle to be present — when so much around you is designed to pull you somewhere else — is the precondition to growth.” Now in its 14th conference and presented in partnership with the University of North Florida, TEDxJacksonville is independently organized under license from TED.

TEDxJacksonville lists Spitz on its 2027 program as “Futurist & Techistentialist.” His talk takes on the prevailing fear about artificial intelligence — that machines will become smarter than we are — and argues that the nearer danger runs the other way: as decisions are outsourced to algorithms, human judgment atrophies from disuse, and people risk opting out of thinking altogether. The question he brings to the stage is whether, as machines increasingly think and act for us, we keep the agency to decide for ourselves.

A DECADE OF TECHISTENTIALISM
Spitz coined Techistentialism in 2016, a play on technology and existentialism, to study the nature of human beings, existence, and decision-making in a technological world. He named his San Francisco foresight practice Techistential after it in 2017 and established the firm formally in 2019. The philosophy’s foundations entered the academic literature in his paper “The Future of Strategic Decision-Making” (Journal of Futures Studies, July 2020). It was developed further with Rauli Nykänen in Leadership for the Future (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021) and runs through Spitz’s books, from the four-volume The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption (Disruptive Futures Institute, 2022-23) to Disrupt With Impact (Kogan Page, 2024). He founded the Techistential Center for Human & Artificial Intelligence in San Francisco to advance the research on AI’s impacts, governance, and ethics.

Techistentialism broadens the definition of technology’s existential risks to include the curtailment of human agency and autonomy, not only physical threats. In 2026, Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center published Spitz’s essay “Will superstupidity be as dangerous as superintelligence?” in its report Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the AI Age, alongside contributions from internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Python creator Guido van Rossum, and forecaster Paul Saffo; GovTech and a Forbes contributor essay carried the argument further.

What began as a philosophical question in 2016 is an operational one in 2027: AI systems no longer only recommend decisions — increasingly, they execute them — and the judgment question has moved from boardrooms into daily life. TEDxJacksonville 2027 comes a decade after the coinage and brings Spitz’s idea from boardrooms and academic journals to a general audience.

“I have delivered more than 500 keynotes to boards, executive teams, investors, and governments,” said Spitz. “A TEDx talk is a different discipline: one idea, a dozen minutes, no jargon, a general audience. If Techistentialism cannot pass that test, the decade’s work is not finished.”

PART OF THE INTELLIGENCE SHIFT
The talk draws on the body of work behind Spitz’s flagship AI keynote, The Intelligence Shift: Upgrading Human Decision-Making in the Age of AI — the second of the three keynotes in his Visionary Trilogy, alongside The Mindset Shift and The Leadership Shift. The Intelligence Shift examines where human judgment retains its edge as algorithms move from predictive to prescriptive roles, and sets out the Techistential position: as algorithms increasingly drive choices, the risk lies not only in trusting machines but in surrendering agency, freedom, and choice.

Spitz’s 2026 stages for this body of work include Meta’s Conversations 2026 in London, RSA Conference and Cloudflare’s Trust Forward Summit in San Francisco, the World Economic Forum in Geneva, MIT Technology Review’s EmTech in Brazil, PREA’s Fall Conference in Washington, DC, the Instituto de Directores de Chile (IdDC) Board Directors’ Summit in Santiago, and RIMS (Risk and Insurance Management Society) in Columbus, Ohio. Keynote engagements continue into 2027 across corporations, financial institutions, technology companies, governance institutes, and policy councils.

ORIGINS AND PROVENANCE
Techistentialism was coined by Roger Spitz in 2016, with its foundations published academically from 2020. The Mindset Shift, The Intelligence Shift, and The Leadership Shift are the three keynotes of Spitz’s Visionary Trilogy; Metaruptions is his 2019 coinage. First publications, dates, and sources are set out in the appendix.

RECOGNITION HEADING INTO 2027
Independent recognition in 2026 includes #15 in Global Gurus’ World’s Top 30 Futurist Professionals — a cohort that includes Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, and Michio Kaku — and #6 in its Americas edition; Thinkers360’s Top Voices 2026 award, which runs through October 2027; #6 on Thinkers360’s Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Management; and a Top 50 standing in Artificial Intelligence. Leading speaker agencies and platforms rank him the #1 futurist keynote speaker for disruption, foresight, and AI, and 2026 buyer’s guides feature him among the best futurist and AI keynote speakers.

WHAT COMES NEXT
The Techistential Center for Human & Artificial Intelligence opened its 2026-2027 research program in September 2026, built around decision rights as AI systems move from recommending decisions to executing them. Planned outputs include board briefings, a delegation-versus-abdication diagnostic, and research notes through 2027. The TEDxJacksonville 2027 talk distills the same question for a general audience: who still holds the right, and the capacity, to decide.

“The conference theme is You Are Here,” Spitz said. “People assume a futurist’s job is to live ten years out. The useful work starts from exactly where you stand — your assumptions, your decision rights, your agency. That is where futures get decided and built.”

Tickets and program information: TEDxJacksonville

TEDxJacksonville is an independent TEDx event operated under license from TED. References to the event are informational and do not imply endorsement of Techistential, its services, or its publications by TED or TEDxJacksonville. Citations and rankings reflect independent work by the authors and organizations named; they do not imply their institutional endorsement.
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APPENDIX — BRIEFING NOTES FOR EDITORS
Provided as background for editors, journalists, event organizers, and partners. Citations, awards, and rankings reflect independent work by the authors and organizations named; they do not imply their institutional endorsement.

1. THE TEDxJACKSONVILLE 2027 CONFERENCE
TEDxJacksonville returns January 16, 2027, at the Lazzara Performance Hall, University of North Florida, with the theme You Are Here. It is the organization’s 14th conference. Since 2012, TEDxJacksonville has been Northeast Florida’s stage for ideas worth spreading, run by an all-volunteer team, with its speakers’ talks viewed more than 10 million times online. The 2027 lineup spans pulmonary medicine and behavioral science, environmental engineering, financial therapy, career strategy, family systems, conservation law — and futures, with Spitz addressing artificial intelligence and human agency.

2. WHAT IS TECHISTENTIALISM, AND WHO COINED IT?
Techistentialism was coined by Roger Spitz in 2016. A play on technology and existentialism, it studies the nature of human beings, existence, and decision-making in our technological world, on the basis that technological and existential conditions can no longer be separated. It broadens the definition of technology’s existential risks to include the curtailment of human agency and autonomy, rather than physical threats alone, drawing on Heidegger, Deleuze, and Sartre: agency emerges through choice, and choice exists because of contingency. Where technology determines outcomes on our behalf, contingency narrows and agency narrows with it.

Provenance: Coined by Spitz in 2016. Foresight practice Techistential named in San Francisco in 2017; formally established in 2019. Foundations first published in the academic literature in Spitz, R., “The Future of Strategic Decision-Making,” Journal of Futures Studies, 26 July 2020. Developed further in Spitz, R. & Nykänen, R., “An Existential Framework for the Future of Decision-Making in Leadership,” in Leadership for the Future, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021. Applied in The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption (Disruptive Futures Institute, 2022-23) and Disrupt With Impact (Kogan Page, 2024). Institutionalized in the Techistential Center for Human & Artificial Intelligence, San Francisco. A TEDx talk on Techistentialism follows at TEDxJacksonville 2027.

3. WHAT IS THE INTELLIGENCE SHIFT?
The Intelligence Shift: Upgrading Human Decision-Making in the Age of AI is Roger Spitz’s flagship AI keynote. Artificial intelligence is redefining domains once considered uniquely human; augmentation, automation, and cognification are transforming how organizations work. The keynote asks which higher-order functions machines will soon perform and where human judgment retains its edge, and sets out the Techistential position: as algorithms increasingly drive choices, the risk lies not only in trusting machines but in surrendering agency, freedom, and choice. Spitz’s prescription is shoshin — a beginner’s mind — and a continuous cycle of learning, unlearning, and relearning. There is no data on the future.

4. THE VISIONARY TRILOGY
The Intelligence Shift is the second of three standalone keynotes in Roger Spitz’s Visionary Trilogy, delivered to boards, executive teams, and leadership forums worldwide:

• 01 – The Mindset Shift: Become Visionary in an Unpredictable World. Moving beyond the false comfort of prediction to reclaim agency as builders and creators in a nonlinear environment.

• 02 – The Intelligence Shift: Upgrading Human Decision-Making in the Age of AI. Reclaiming the human decision-making edge: while algorithms can calculate the probable, only humans can invent the impossible.

• 03 – The Leadership Shift: Foresight to Inspire Transformational Futures. Applying Spitz’s AAA Framework — Antifragile, Anticipatory, Agility — to create sustainable value under deep uncertainty.

The trilogy anchors a wider catalog that includes the “Futures of…” Frontier Series and the Strategic Imperatives special editions on uncertainty and instability.

5. SPITZ RECOGNITION, 2026-2027
• Global Gurus 2026: #15, World’s Top 30 Futurist Professionals; #6, Americas edition.
• Thinkers360: Top Voices 2026 award (October 2026–October 2027 cycle); #6, Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Management 2026; Top 50, Artificial Intelligence. Institutional: the Disruptive Futures Institute named among the 50 Thought Leading Companies on Artificial Intelligence 2026.
• Media guides and curation: featured in 2026 buyer’s guides to AI keynote speakers; in Socialnomics’ 2026 guide “Who Are the Best Futurist Speakers Right Now?”; featured among leading AI & emerging technology speakers by international speaker bureaus; ranked by The Motivational Speakers Agency among “The Top Ranked Futurist Speakers Shaping the Future”; and listed by The Speakers Agency in “The World’s 10 Best Futurist Speakers.”
• Ranked the #1 futurist keynote speaker for disruption, foresight, and AI by leading speaker agencies and platforms.

6. ABOUT ROGER SPITZ
Roger Spitz is an AI futurist and keynote speaker working on artificial intelligence, strategic foresight, anticipatory leadership, and the future of decision-making. He coined Techistentialism in 2016 and is President & CEO of Techistential in San Francisco, the strategic foresight advisory practice he established in 2019, and founder of its Techistential Center for Human & Artificial Intelligence. He chairs the Disruptive Futures Institute.

Previously Global Head of Technology M&A at BNP Paribas, he advised on more than 50 transactions worth over $25 billion, built the bank’s US M&A platform in San Francisco, and launched its European Technology & Digital corporate finance practices. He serves on the AI Council of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law, sits on the World Economic Forum’s AI governance and technology convergence groups, and is an AI columnist for MIT Technology Review Brasil. He is the author of five books, including the multi-award-winning Disrupt With Impact (Kogan Page, 2024), a #1 Amazon bestseller across six categories, including Artificial Intelligence, in six countries, and has delivered more than 500 keynotes across over 40 countries. Born in South Africa, he is bilingual in English and French. He speaks at TEDxJacksonville 2027 in January 2027.

7. ABOUT TECHISTENTIAL
Techistential, a division of the Disruptive Futures Institute, is the global Foresight Strategy & Futures Intelligence practice based in San Francisco. Founded by leading futurist Roger Spitz, Techistential provides strategic foresight advice to leadership teams, boards, and investors, applying the Disruptive Futures Institute’s proprietary frameworks — Metaruptions, the AAA Framework (Antifragile, Anticipatory, Agility), the Law of Inaction, and Techistentialism — to capitalize on disruption as a springboard for sustainable value creation.

Techistential’s renowned Board, Governance & Investor foresight practice works with organizations worldwide to anticipate the next-order impacts of accelerating change and reinvent governance systems for the disruptive 21st century.

Techistential supports organizations, changemakers, and investors worldwide on:
• Anticipatory Practices: Corporate & Strategic Foresight
• Futurist-in-Residence: Ongoing Capabilities Development
• Sustainable Futures: Climate Foresight & Sustainable Value Creation
• Transformative Change: Complexity, Systems & Virtuous Tipping Points
• Anticipatory Governance: Board, Leadership & Investor Foresight Practice
• Grand Strategy: Geopolitics, Global Disorder & Strategic Resilience
• Technology Foresight: Emerging Technologies, Design Fiction & Systems Innovation
• Techistentialism: Artificial Intelligence, Ethical & Existential Foresight

The Disruptive Futures Institute is the publisher of the seminal four-volume collection The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption.

8. ABOUT TEDxJACKSONVILLE
Since 2012, TEDxJacksonville has been Northeast Florida’s premier stage for “ideas worth spreading.” Through its annual conference, Salons, and Adventures, the nonprofit creates spaces where innovation, dialogue, and inspiration thrive. Independently organized under license from TED, TEDxJacksonville is powered by a volunteer team committed to elevating ideas that matter to Jacksonville and the world.

9. ABOUT TEDx, x = INDEPENDENTLY ORGANIZED EVENT
In the spirit of discovering and spreading ideas, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

10. ABOUT TED
TED is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to discovering, debating and spreading ideas that spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. The organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. TED welcomes people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and connection with others, and invites everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in their communities.

11. SELECTED REFERENCES
• TEDxJacksonville 2027 — Roger Spitz speaker page
• Spitz, R., “The Future of Strategic Decision-Making,” Journal of Futures Studies, 26 July 2020
• Spitz, R. & Nykänen, R., “An Existential Framework for the Future of Decision-Making in Leadership,” in Leadership for the Future, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021
• Spitz, R., “Will superstupidity be as dangerous as superintelligence?”, in Anderson, J. & Rainie, L. (Eds.), Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the AI Age, Elon University Imagining the Digital Future Center, 2026
• Spitz, R., Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World, Kogan Page, 2024
• Techistential Center for Human & Artificial Intelligence

CONTACTS
For interviews and media: media@techistential.ai
Techistential: www.techistential.ai | @techistential
Disruptive Futures Institute: www.disruptivefutures.org | @disrupt_futures

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Roger B Spitz
Techistential
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