Future happens
What is innovation? How does a new tech trend start? Can you predict the future by looking at the present? Witha new year beginning, it’s teh perfect time to discover the future together.
Shouldn’t we start by looking at what’s happened?
Good point. In the tech scene, 2016 was the year the US elections were threatened by cyber attacks, Google’s AlphaGo became the first computer program to beat a professional player at Go, and Mark Zuckerberg launched his personal AI assistant project. And 2016 was also a year of big acquisitions. Samsung bought Harman, the car infotainment company, Uber bought self-driving truck start-up OTTO, and Microsoft bought LinkedIn. It’s the year first time moments: first self-driving truck delivery, first cars sold on Amazon and first sneakers made by oceans plastic. A lot of new products were born too, like Snapchat’s Spectacles and Solar City roof. Plus numerous other futuristic initiatives have been announced like Alphabet’s Waymo and SpaceX’s Mars exploration plans.
And this will help me predict the future?
Predicting the future of tech is always a gamble. Who could have imagined the impact of Pokemon Go in 2016? Have a look at Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017: intelligent things, digital twins and conversational systems are all promising innovations. In fact, they’re already shaping our futures. All of them are based on long-term trends identified many years ago: “mobile is eating the world”, to quote Ben Evans in his famous presentation. You can go deep into 2017’s trends by reading the Backchannel series ‘What matters the most in 2017?’. And if you feel a bit more creative, see the Tech Trends 2017 by Frog Design. It lists 15 predictions that will affect our daily habits. Likely or unlikely? What do you think?
Pinch me, is this real?
These innovations are happening right now. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are shaping our economy and job-market. Have a look at the latest ‘AI, Automation and Economy’ report written by the US President’s Executive Office, which predicts the number of jobs threatened by robots. How many will be lost in the near future? Is this the end of the jobs market as we know it? Does the economy need to change the way it’s organised?
Well, I don’t know!
It’s the ability to observe the horizon and spot technology’s endless number of possibilities. That’s why at Xchange 2016 in Munich, London and Milan, Replyers and event guests played with Reply Moonshots, a crowd-sourcing way to predict the tech-based future in 5, 10 and 50 years. We collected hundreds of predictions, grouping them by topics and titles. Have a look at the most interesting contributions: you see, Artificial Intelligence and most of the other trends like the Blockchain, virtual reality and Industry 4.0 are shaping right now our future. What if the #1 on-demand job will be to teach robots how to replace us?
Is it me or is the future just a little bit scary?
Actually, based on global living conditions the world is getting better. Yes, we’re living in interesting times, especially when something seemingly physically impossible happens. And if you’re a Reply R20 reader, this is good news. See you again at the next R20!
