Over the years, a variety of terms has been used to describe people’s difficulties grasping and controlling the world around them. There was dynamic, high-velocity, disruptive, turbulent and so on. Until recently, this has culminated in the notion of VUCA—Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

But, since a year or two, there’s a new kid on the block: BANI. It says that the world today is Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear and Incomprehensible. Plausible as that may sound and in sync with the way many people may feel today, there’s a need to clarify this concept and unravel its four components.

A little history. The creator of this concept is Jamais Cascio, an American anthropologist, futurist, and author. Triggered by the various crises our world is facing—climate, pandemic, inequality and global instability, to name a few—he concluded that existing concepts such as VUCA are not appropriate for a rapidly evolving world. A new concept was needed, and this was BANI. Read this great Forbes article to find out more