This is a quote directly from “Megachange, the world in 2050”. Another future babble book in the same vein as “Everything we know is wrong”, “Future Files”, “Physics of the future”, “Future Minds” and “Flash foresight”. The book gives a perspective on a very interesting cocktail of trends.
2012
Written around 2012, but still current if you want a foundation in trend watching.
The book covers
- Population (Demography is destiny, 9 billion by 2050, a time bomb in an ageing population, water, political violence, food, carbon)
- Health (old age, innovation, genome sequencing)
- Women (will equalize, with choice comes pressure)
- Social media (Facebook, gaming, politics, mobile, embedded into products)
- Culture (art, local, the importance of language)
- Religion (10,000 religions, unbelief biggest, fun)
- Global warming (unrealistic rhetoric of action, Antarctica, technology)
- War ( China, technology, robots, nuclear)
- Freedom (Berlesconifaction, complacency, fragmentation)
- The state (fucked, not making hard decisions)
- Emerging markets (not for long, BRICKs, education and prosperity, services)
- Globalisation (in trade, not in the movement of people)
- Rich and poor (narrowing between countries, not between people
- Creative destruction (Schumpeter as the new economic theory, innovation, entrepreneurship, frugal innovation)
- Market momentum (volatility of stock market)
- Science (Everything will be biology, China not cited in academia, mindset)
- Space (aliens and space travel)
- The internet (Memex, information overload, sensor dust, 13 billion devices, quickening adoption rates, DNA computers, 2045 singularity event)
- Distance (location, hybrid networks)
- Future Babble (the future is bright, the invisibility of good news)
Recurring themes
The recurring themes are China (mixed story there), technology, biology as the new black, the impact of population growth on the planet and its resources and dependent on where you are coming from, a sense of opportunity and optimism or a sense of impending doom.
Schumpeter
I am firmly on the optimistic side and my favourite chapter is “Schumpeter Inc”, which talks about “unleashing flocks of black swans”, radical reduction in the life span of businesses, turbulence, SUPER high speed broadband (100 times faster), professional guilds, frugal innovation (houses for $ 300), tidal waves of change, the emerging economies as the cauldron of innovation, embedded sensors, complicated careers, managing life as an opportunity, etc., etc. Flux, chaos, opportunity!
Tidal waves of change
That chapter speaks my language. As a business, you ignore the “tidal wave of change” at your peril. But to go back to the start of this blog; “The storms of creative destruction are blowing us to a better place”. How cool is that!? Schumpeter as the new economic theory to future growth and prosperity for the world, but hopefully also for your business.