Think: Nuclear fusion is one of those technologies that always seems to be ten years away. This may not always be the case.  In fact, it is possible that nuclear fusion could arrive sooner than expected. If this does happen, one reason may be because advances in artificial intelligence accelerate some of the advances necessary for fusion to become a viable source of clean, affordable, and abundant energy.

Think Different: Today, a handful of drugs come from plants, including the cancer drug Taxol, the fiber supplement Metamucil, and morphine. In the near future, a growing number of drugs could be manufactured from plants. This may be bad news for the pharmaceutical industry but great news for humanity as this article on “pharming,” Cure for Cancer Could Grow on Trees, highlights.

Think Bigger: If you are middle-aged like me, you probably grew up watching the Jetsons and, if you did, you might be wondering “How the hell it is the Year 2022 and we still don’t have flying cars?” Well, wonder no more — this eVTOL (an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle) is now being sold for a cool $92,000. You probably won’t be able to get your hands on one and you may not even see one for while because only 12 have been manufactured to date. Nevertheless, the technology is likely to become safer, more affordable, and even easier to fly. As this happens, expect this technology to literally and metaphorically take off. (You can watch a video of the eVTOL here.)

Think in Questions: Here is an intriguing question–a question we should all be asking and thinking about: Does the human lifespan have a limit? Regardless of what you currently think the answer is, my advice is to continue to challenge your assumptions around this important question.

Think Smarter: The topic of innovation is rightly on the mind of every business leader, and the phrase “innovate or die” has almost become a cliche. As this article suggests the phrase focuses too much on fear.  If you and your business truly want to innovate the smarter approach may be to focus on “fascination,” not fear.

Afterthought: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Charles Goodhart