As a professional futurist, I don’t claim to predict the future. However, the two things I’m confident in stating are: 1) Today is the slowest rate of change we will ever experience again; and 2) the greatest change today is the rate of change. The world is accelerating and it’s imperative that business leaders spend…

The science fiction writer William Gibson once wrote: “The future is here. It just isn’t evenly distributed.” It’s a powerful insight because it implies that savvy business people, farsighted political leaders and even average citizens can discern the future if only they heed today’s emerging trends. Five current trends, in particular, appear poised to transform…

Two of my favorite writers and thinkers have recently released books. Clay Shirky has written a book entitled Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age in which he persuasively argues, among other things, that the Internet is making us smarter because it is allowing society to produce such knowledge accelerators as Wikipedia at virtually no…

 "If this is the information age, what are we so well-informed about?" So asks David Gelernter is this excellent essay in Edge entitled, Time to Start Taking the Internet Seriously.  Rather than rehash Gelernter's entire article, I just want to highlight a few key concepts: 1. To date, the Internet has been about increasing the…

If a picture is worth a thousand words how much is a picture within a picture worth? That's the question every video provider should be asking itself because, like this famous picture from Pere Borrell del Caso, there is often more to a picture than meets the eye. Earlier today, I came across a new…

  “Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is – oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate.” Alice in Wonderland     Question: Which is greater: 1 or 2? What about 100 or 10,000?   The answer is that it…

Fellow blogger and change agent, Seth Godin, has an excellent post today entitled "When data and decisions collide." In it, he recounts numerous examples of people ignoring data because it doesn't line up with their "hunches" — or what people think they know but "just ain't so." Godin is pessimistic about the time it will take most…

In my 2008 book, Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies, one strategy I encourage people to employ from time to time is that of reading the newspaper backwards. Why? Because it can help you more clearly see where the future is headed. This, in turn, will…

Take a look at the pictures to the right. What's wrong with them? The answer would seem pretty obvious: they are upside down. But that is wrong. They are only "wrong" from your perspective. From outer space there is no up or down, so the globe can just as correctly be viewed from one perspective…

This is the latest iteration of famous “Shift Happens” video with a focus on social media. If nothing else, it should serve as a reminder of to all of us why we must constantly unlearn. Enjoy!