When thinking about the future, it helps to think counter-intuitively. (This is one reason why I devote an entire chapter to this idea in my new book, Jump the Curve.)
As a wonderful example of this idea, I’d like to share with you this recent article about DARPA’s plan to create an aircraft that can stay aloft for five years.
If the advantage of such an aircraft is not immediately apparent to you, just consider how much money the U.S. military currently spends on both staffing airbases around the world and maintaining the planes on those bases. While I don’t have exact figures, the budget is in the billions of dollars.
If, however, the military can construct airplanes which could fly for years on end and monitor enemy activity from 65,000 feet above Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea the savings could be huge.
Time will tell whether the DARPA project will be successful but, to my mind, it is an excellent eample of “jumping the curve.” As a former naval officer who had to make a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean my only regret is that the aircraft will be unmanned—I’d love to see some Air Force pukes finally have to leave their cushy bases and make extended deployments like the rest of us.
Related Posts
The Future of the Airline Industry
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Robots and Your Future
Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
