[S+S] The Return of the Real

Signals+Systems - Issue #01

Signals + Systems is a Constava series where I share foresight — exploring the early signals shaping the systems of tomorrow. The goal isn’t prediction. It’s perception. To see earlier. To think longer. To design better.

Each edition will surface one or two signals I’m tracking — what they reveal about the changing landscape of culture, technology, and leadership — and how we might respond with clarity, courage, and design.

Signal:
“IRL” — In Real Life — is becoming the new verification tool.

As artificial intelligence becomes more ubiquitous — meaning everywhere, embedded in everything — the boundary between what’s real and what’s generated is dissolving.

Words, images, videos, even human voices are now infinitely reproducible. Authenticity, once assumed, must now be proven.

System:
For decades, the digital world has been gaining legitimacy. We trusted screens. We built lives, businesses, and relationships through them.But as AI saturates our feeds and workflows, the digital realm begins to lose its credibility. The pendulum is swinging back toward the physical.

The only believable and trustworthy verification will be In Real Life.
Physical presence. Real encounters. Shared experience. Buildings, gatherings, and embodied communities are not nostalgic—they’re becoming infrastructure for truth.

Shift:
We are moving from digital-first to reality-first.
From “look at my profile” to “come see for yourself.”
From content creation to context restoration.

Screens will still entertain and inform—but not verify.
They will become theater, not testimony.

The next trust revolution will happen in the flesh:
People you can touch. Places you can visit.
Communities you can actually walk into.

Design Response:
Leaders and builders should start asking:

• What are the IRL touchpoints that verify who we are and what we do?
• How do our physical spaces and embodied practices authenticate our digital narratives?
• If trust migrates offline, how do we design for credibility in a post-digital world?

Closing Thought:
The future of verification is embodiment built probably on top of the blockchain - which will be connected to a physical token of some sort.

Signals + Systems is about noticing these shifts early—
and designing new systems for a more human future.