Decisions would be so much easier if we had crystal balls to see into the future! But they don’t exist and the world is uncertain!. Nidhi challenges us to move away from making decisions by trying to predict the future, and towards making decisions that will accommodate many different possibilities. By asking "What If?" instead of "What's Next?" we can better prepare ourselves, our communities, and our world, for the uncertain future ahead.
Nidhi Kalra is a senior information scientist at RAND Corporation, codirector of RAND's Center for Decision Making Under Uncertainty, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Kalra’s research at RAND Corporation addresses energy, environment, and science and technology policy. She recently led projects to ensure long-term water security in Lima, Peru and to provide policy guidance on autonomous vehicle technologies. Her clients include the State of California, the World Bank, the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the Government of Qatar, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Defense. In 2013, she served as a senior decision scientist in the Office of the Chief Economist of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. She has also developed educational technology tools to promote literacy among blind children in developing countries. Kalra received her Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at