I’m not trying to get deep on you with this title: The Future Is So Fast It’s Slow. Instead, I want to make an important point about the future. It is a fact that technology is accelerating. It is easy, therefore, to jump to the conclusion that everything else will speed up as well. In many cases this it true but not always.
In a counter-intuitive way, the future’s accelerating pace of change can work against itself. How so, you ask? Consider the case of the flat panel television. How many of you postponed a purchase because you were afraid that the television you purchased would be obsolete as soon as you bought it? My guess is that you may have delayed your last laptop computer for the same reason.
The number of items about to experience this effect will soon accelerate. Consider your car purchase. Will you delay buying a new car because a new hybrid vehicle may soon be available or, perhaps, a new higher MPG version is soon expected. The same thing will happen with cellphones, electronic books, and solar cells.
The pace of change is these areas is accelerating so rapidly that it is hard to know when to pull the trigger and buy a specific. As a result, you don’t. This lack of capital in turn retards progress.
