Victor V. Motti

[onAir Curators]

Summary

Born and raised in the Middle East and based in Washington, D.C., Victor Vahidi Motti is a distinguished self-taught foresight scholar and author of the 2025 book Planetary Foresight and Ethics.

He is the co-founder and CEO/President of the Alternative Planetary Futures Institute and currently serves as the Executive Director of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) founded in 1973 with 300+ institutional and individual members from 60+ countries and is the Managing Editor of the European Journal of Futures Research (EJFR) published by Springer Nature.

He is holder of USA National Interest Waiver (NIW) in Strategic Foresight and an invited speaker at business events and academic conferences. He has been a guest speaker at international conferences in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, speaking on key driving forces of change and major transformations at planetary and regional levels for the horizons of 2030, 2050, 2060, 2100, and 3000.

Presentation to IRES
Institut Royal des Etudes Stratégiques (IRES)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xZCY-qryo&ab_channel=InstitutRoyaldesEtudesStrat%C3%A9giques%28IRES%29

OnAir Post: Victor V. Motti

News

The Middle East and the United States: Scenarios for the Medium-Term Future until 2030
Alternative Planetary Futures Institute (Ap-Fi), Victor Motti – January 20, 2025

The geopolitical landscape of the Middle East has long been a focal point of international relations, with various nation-states in the region pursuing distinct objectives rooted in their unique historical, cultural, and socio-political contexts. Concurrently, the United States, as a global superpower, has its own set of fundamental objectives that guide its foreign policy. This research report explores the alignment and conflicts between the fundamental objectives of Middle Eastern nation-states and the United States. It also develops scenarios for potential medium-term futures up to 2030, considering how these dynamics might evolve.

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About

Recent Publications

• Motti, Victor V. (2025). Planetary foresight and ethics: A vision for humanity’s futures, USA: Washington, D.C. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Motti, Victor V. (2024). Planetary foresight: Navigating the future shifts. Middle East Institute. Washington, D.C., USA.
• Motti, Victor V., Glenn, J., Di Berardo, M. Pelton, J., Gardner, A., Mengel, T., Mureithi, L. (2023). Futures Studies: Contributions and Sources, Washington, D.C., Alternative Planetary Futures Institute (Ap-Fi).
• Motti, Victor V. (2022). Futures Studies. In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_269-1
• Motti, Victor V. (2021). Richard Slaughter: The master interpreter of alternative planetary futures, Futures, Elsevier. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102796
• Motti, Victor V. (2019). A Transformation Journey to Creative and Alternative Planetary Futures, UK: Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Motti, Victor V. (2017). Sources of Futures Studies from Foresight to Anticipation. In Handbook of Anticipation. Cham: Springer. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31737-3_98-1

Source: WFSF webpage

Recent Invited Lectures

• Embracing Planetization: A Paradigm Shift for Global Harmony, Living in Space Initiative, 13 February 2025, USA
• Planetary Foresight: Navigating the Future Shifts, Brandeis University MENA Economics Club, 7 November 2024, USA
• Introducing World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), BRICSX Marketplace, 31 October 2024, USA
• Embracing Planetization: A Paradigm Shift for Global Harmony, SIDS (Small Island Developing States) SMART Futures Festival, 24 May 2024, The Futures Forum, USA
• Exploring Symbolic Value Across Temporal and Spatial Dimensions: A Journey into the Futures of Human Consciousness, 12 April 2024, Classic Planning Institute, USA
• Evolving Pathways of the Futures Studies Histories in the World, 13 December 2023, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Center for Futuristic Studies, Saudi Arabia
• Planetary Foresight; Looking at the Strategic Horizon, 27 May 2023, Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Morocco
• Drivers of Change and Lifestyle in 2050: A Decentralized and Autonomous Futurescape, 27 April 2021, Paris Institute for Advanced Study, France
• Drivers of Change and Lifestyle in 2050: A Decentralized and Autonomous Futurescape, 17 March 2021, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Center for Futuristic Studies, Saudi Arabia
• Drivers of Change and Lifestyle in 2050: A Decentralized and Autonomous Futurescape, 27 February 2021, Classic Planning Institute, USA
• An introduction to the Introduction to the World History, 23 December 2020, Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Morocco
• Evolving Cultural Identities in a Planetary Era, 4 May 2017, Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), Morocco
• Strategic Foresight; From theory to practice in the Middle East & North Africa, 18 May 2016, University of Trento, Italy
• Global and Placeless Brains: A Third Culture Perspective, 8 April 2011, Fondazione Intercultura, Italy
• Global Transitions and Asia 2060: Climate, Political-Economy, and Identity, 5 November 2010, Tamkang University, Taiwan

Source: WFSF webpage

Recent Podcast and Interviews

• Alternative Planetary Futures: A Transformative Journey to Collective Consciousness by Geoffrey Holland
• Alternative Planetary Futures, by Peter Hayward
• Conversations on the future we want UN AGENDA 2030, by Claire A. Nelson
• Wise Futures of Infinite Time and Space, by Peter Hayward
• Re-Writing the Future, Everywoman, by Rebecca Lewis

Source: WFSF webpage

Terran Profile

Birth Name: Vahid Vahidi Motlagh

Terran Name: Victor Vahidi Motti

Day Joined: 32 DANS (Days After Northern Summer Solstice)

Year Joined: 57 OSEP (Orbits Since the Earthrise Photo)

Approximate Location: Latitude 38° N, Longitude 77° W

Countries Touched: 9 PZT (Planetary Zones Traversed)

Ethos / Bushido / Inner Calling: Integrate Ideas, People, and Organizations 

Weblink: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYZZKVW6

Videos

Presentation to IRES

January 8, 2018 (21:12)
By: Institut Royal des Etudes Stratégiques (IRES)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xZCY-qryo&ab_channel=InstitutRoyaldesEtudesStrat%C3%A9giques%28IRES%29

Books

A Transformation Journey to Creative and Alternative Planetary Futures

Source: Amazon

This book presents a counter-trend against nationalism, religious extremism, xenophobia, and racism. It advocates an alternative globalization based not on trade, the economy, and politics, but on humanity’s transcendence to a collective consciousness.

Inspired by a pantheist worldview, it applies an integral perspective toward strategic foresight and anticipation on the planetary scale. Controversial, disappearing, and emerging binary oppositions are explained within the framework of the mythology of the Lord of Wisdom versus the Ignorant Mind.

It shows that our anticipatory planetary era might be characterized by the acknowledgement of our “zero knowledge”, as measured in the ocean of all disciplines; zero carbon for energy; zero war in politics and zero killing in society; zero conscious beings excluded; and zero existence (as we have known it), as humanity merges into some higher and enriched complexity.

Planetary Foresight and Ethics: A Vision for Humanity’s Futures

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Planetary-Foresight-Ethics-Humanitys-Futures/dp/B0DYZQ1GTR

This book explores the evolution of belief systems, imagination, and future scenarios through the lens of Indo-Iranic, Mesopotamian, and Hellenic thought, contrasting them with the dominant Abrahamic and Western paradigms. Rooted in a Progressive & Cyclical Macrohistory Framework, the book argues that humanity is transitioning from the Second Nomad Age toward a new Settlement Age, marked by planetary consciousness and ethical transformation.

The journey begins with The Mysterious Lord of Time, where alternative temporalities and non-linear understandings of history are introduced, challenging the Western conception of time as a straight path toward progress. Evolving Belief Systems critiques how religious and philosophical traditions have shaped human perception, highlighting Indo-Iranic and Hellenic influences that fostered pluralism and complexity rather than dogmatic closure.

In Histories of Imagination, the role of myth, storytelling, and artistic expression in shaping civilizations is addressed, emphasizing how ancient visions continue to influence modern and future realities. This leads into Scenarios of the Future Worlds, where foresight methodologies are applied to construct alternative geopolitical futures, considering emerging technologies, ecological shifts, and evolving human consciousness. The final chapters expand the discussion to cosmic dimensions, exploring humanity’s role in a broader planetary and universal context.

Central to the thesis is the idea that ethical transformations require a deep reconnection with forgotten wisdom traditions, an embrace of planetary identity, and a commitment to creative complexity and foresight. The book challenges simplistic narratives of progress and advocates for a future shaped by hybrid fluid identities, stewardship of the planet, and a reverence for life and the cosmos. It serves as both a philosophical treatise and a practical framework for navigating the uncertain but promising horizons ahead.

Podcasts

EP 51: Wise Futures of Infinite Time and Space – Victor Motti

Source: FuturePod

Victor Vahidi Motti is the Director of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) which is our foremost body for independent future studies scholarship. Victor explains how he applies an Integral Futures Framework, which is based on the science of complex systems and names after Zurvan, the entire god of infinite time and space in ancient Persian mythology. For him, Futures is the search for the Husraw Wisdom and finding trans-formative narratives.

Interviewed by: Peter Hayward

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