Read the post of Nicolas Nova (LIFT's editorial manager) about Bruce Sterling's opening keynote, a speech that generated mixed reviews with some attendees who wondered out loud why he spent so much time talking about Sarkozy.

[Bruce] basically tied together foresight research techniques, black swans theory, goldilock hypothesis, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and the Internet to discuss a sort of attitude towards the future. [...] lots of people thought he was “ranting against” this weird French couple. This was not a rant by any means, rather an exemplification of the foresight method and how unexpected events as well as driving forces can be employed to described scenarios. He wanted to state that if we do not have the proper analytical tools, we won’t understand it. It requires to get the the driving forces: "Like an american who learns the rules of soccer, you probably still won’t like it very much, but you will understand why it matters to people, you’ll be able to put into a useful perceptive and get on with you own life."
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Now check Bruce's speech again, it should resonate in a very different way.