Could it be possible that the knowledge we need will find us? No longer would we have to stop, search and grasp to figure out what we need right now. When the right information comes to us we can be more productive, successful human beings. If the network could help everyone succeed more of the time, could we live in a world of winners, where universal success is the the way our world works?

Chapter 2.1 from my new book, Imagine A New Future: Creating Greatness for All, asks: How could everyone reach for their own greatness?

Could it be possible that the knowledge we need will find us? No longer would we have to stop, search and grasp to figure out what we need right now. If information comes to us we become more productive, successful human beings.

Imagine the possibilities of having the brains of Albert Einstein, the talents of Tom Cruise and the creativity of Madonna find you, show you, guide you.

If the network could help everyone succeed all the time, could we live in a world of winners, where universal success is the the way our world works?

The Pyramid of Scarcity: Eternal or obsolete?

Until now, we have lived in a physical world, locked down and held back by its biggest limit: Scarcity.

Knowledge and information was transferred from one person to another, parent to child, trial and error. We evolved a traditional style of classroom instruction and educational institutions: Teaching, testing, grading, passing, failing.

More recently television added observation and the Internet added webinars. Now that we have the web and search, we have to stop, find what we need and figure out how to use it effectively. At best progress is only a bit faster, while mediocrity is still the most frequent result.

Most don’t succeed upward. Only a few rise all the way to the top. Once there they want to keep their advantages and pass them to their children, so they amass power to stay up there.

The physical world has always been this way, and continues even though an early Internet surrounds us. The physical world’s scarcities and limits created our pyramids of wealth, power and control. Look everywhere in today’s physical world. Its pyramids are everywhere. Nearly every institution’s and society’s local beliefs, culture and rules perpetuate them.

But with a new digital world along side our physical world everyone would automatically get what they need to know to succeed. Technology could eliminate many kinds of scarcity while multiplying the performance of people, giving everyone the chance to leap over their limits and rise in new ways.

Sure, some wouldn’t make it, but many would ascend. How much more could we produce personally and together if the network helps everyone become more successful and effective? More earnings, spending and larger sizes for markets, generating more profits for companies and the economy.

We think a network is communications. What if it were behavior and responsive ways to reach for your dreams?

First, organize: Google’s mission — to organize the world’s information — comes from yesterday’s world of facts. It’s based on “static knowledge.” Everyone has to stop, search and find the right information from somewhere else. That helps some people a lot. But only some of the time, and not everyone.

Networks stay based on communications. The world stays the same.

Next, deliver: In tomorrow’s digital world Active Knowledge comes from what we do. It’s generated by us, and is based on us. Think about using devices that recognize you, and restore everything you’re doing as you switch from device to device, from screen to screen. That network knows who you are, your device, the task you’re doing and the steps you take. It aggregates it and responds to success and failure. You’re the filter and the Active Knowledge finds you. You can always know the best steps, like GPS directions to your goal.

This changes everything. Networks are based on behavior. They deliver success, so success becomes the new world standard.

Then commerce: An Active Knowledge network will know what the world’s best is. And how to achieve it. If you want to be as good as the best in the world, it can tell you which devices, services and products are actually used for that. Then it helps you buy, rent, share and use them. You become the best. Along with everyone who wants to reach the top.

Everything changes again. The network is the e-commerce channel inside what we do, ready to help everyone ascend all the time. The paradigm flips from push (find customers / sell them) to pull (want it now? accelerate!).

Then surge forward: Worldwide, the best knowledge is discovered and spread exponentially. An Active Knowledge network spots innovations, tests them and improves its guidance. It delivers the leading edge of progress to everyone and keeps them out in front. Our world surfs the future, constantly becoming the best we can be. The Expandiverse name for this is AnthroTechtonics.

Everything keeps changing. The network makes it normal to be great… and then be greater.

It won’t matter whether you are in Silicon Valley or Sao Paulo. It won’t matter whether you are in Singapore or in a small village in Africa, South America or Asia. Everybody who uses a networked screen can receive Active Knowledge guidance — and become able to succeed as well as the best people in the world.

Which could eventually be most people. AnthroTechtonics shift us to a new kind of future.

Tomorrow’s Hierarchy: Is an upside down pyramid a right-side up world?

Ultimately, Active Knowledge creates the possibility of universal personal greatness. It makes learning normal, rather than forcing it as “education.” It allows everyone to achieve — for themselves, where they are, when they need it and on the devices they happen to use each minute.

An evolved network leads to a new kind of world. Advances happen and spread all the time, not just when you’re at school, not just when your job teaches you something new. But any time you could be better, technology and life offer new options for you to become all you can be, and reach your full potentials.

For too long, we’ve separated learning as something that takes effort, something that is done in libraries and by teachers, which makes it occasional and infrequent. With Active Knowledge learning is life, and life is achieving the greatness that’s in all of us.

Next Chapter (to be posted)

Dan Abelow is an American inventor, author, technology consultant and speaker.

See free resources on the book’s website: ImagineANewFuture.com

Image credits: The fourth graphic is copyright Dan Abelow. All other graphics are credited to Shutterstock.

See Imagine A New Future on Amazon.com:

Technology has taken us places we never dreamed possible. What’s next? Today’s Internet child will grow up into a mature Digital Earth.

What happens if we accelerate?

Imagine a New Future: Creating Greatness for All introduces a different way to think about the future. Instead of being pushed out of middle class jobs and being left behind by today’s technology, an advanced Digital Earth might produce the more productive and successful future we want for all.

Can we envision a world where tech helps everyone succeed and prosper?

Can we build a Digital Earth that has the power to improve lives and fortunes everywhere across our planet?