We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
big strech ideas of what the future might hold – need to start thinking!
“We are about to starve to death” is a recurringly popular idea. And it is recurringly wrong.
Rich Karlgaard surveys the Malthusians of several ages before giving two reasons such folks always miss the boat in his article Bad News Bear at Forbes.
Mr. Karlgaard mentions four people in the we’re-gonna’-starve-this-afternoon camp. I’ll add a fifth.
There is radical change taking place in the education world. Where will it go? How will we handle on-line cheating? What’s the credential going to look like?
Nobody knows. And that’s okay.
Huh? That’s okay?
Yeah. Continue reading ““Top of the first inning” in education reform”
What will develop next after the astounding technology changes of the last 30 years? We have no idea.
Previous post described my brain stretch from an article, The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
His main point is we can no more tell today where technology will be in 30 years than we could predict in 1980 where we are today.
He then points out three major technology transitions that are already here and will have a huge impact in the future:
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 2”
It is hard for my brain to stretch that far, but when I try really hard, I can grasp that the astounding technology change we’ve seen in the last 30 years is no more than the opening chapter for the future.
My latest brain stretch is courtesy of The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
He describes the astounding technology growth from 1950 through 1980 that left people wondering what could possibly come next.
Sitting in 1980…
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 1”
Emma, the child in the video, was born with a disease that means she can’t lift her arms. Available technology helps but is too heavy for her. Looks like the equipment isn’t very mobile.
The manufacturer used 3-D printing to make parts light enough for this little girl to move her arms and mobile enough for her to go everywhere with it.
From the YouTube link:
Two-year-old Emma wanted to play with blocks, but a condition called arthrogryposis meant she couldn’t move her arms. So researchers at a Delaware hospital 3D printed a durable custom exoskeleton with the tiny, lightweight parts she needed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoZ2BgPVtA0&feature=player_detailpage#t=122s]
Continue reading “3-D printing of exoskeleton for child who is no longer immobilized”
“Future-proofing your career” has three areas of advice for new college grads from Charlie Ball.
Actually, the advice applies to everyone.
With new college grads having at least a 45 year work horizon in front of them, he has three major words of advice:
Continue reading “Radical change is a factor for even the newest college grad”
Count The Economist as skeptical on the plans Planetary Resources has to mine asteroids as one step in their privately funded space exploration efforts.
In their article, Going platinum, they survey some of the hurdles.
Previous post discussed mining asteroids to get raw materials for space exploration.
Ponder the idea of private space travel and tie that to mining asteroids for some really wild possibilities for change in the future.
This video from Reason.TV is a bit smart alack, but makes a number of points about the future of private space travel:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXkW8W0-Noc&feature=player_embedded#t=5s]
It’s a short video talking about the final shuttle being retired and moved to DC where it will reside at the Air and Space Museum. Check it out. Here are some of my favorite lines:
Continue reading “Private space travel – connecting some dots”
Here’s a brain stretcher for you.
People with money to back their ideas are thinking about mining asteroids for natural resources.
After you finish chuckling, consider the materials needed for extended space travel and the cost of lifting them from earth into space. How about pulling those resources off an asteroid, since its already in space?
Like I said, it’s a stretch.
And yet…
An outfit called Planetary Resources is planning to research the idea and figure out how to pull it off.
There is a tsunami wave out in the ocean that’s headed toward the higher ed shore.
Don’t know exactly how tall it is or how wide. Can’t quite make out the exact form but it is large and it is on the way.
The tsunami is online courses.
Everyone knows those silly predictions from the 1950s are so ridiculously wrong.
There’s the old line about the world only needing a few computers. The quote as it usually provided is mentioned by friend John Bredehoft in his post Why Bad Predictions Happen (the ‘five computers’ prediction).
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
John questions who actually made the comment and whether it may have been made in the ’50s instead. Regardless, the point stands. Do we really need more than 5 of those machines?
Since there are at least five computers in just my home that are more powerful than what was available in the 1950s, we can all chuckle away. How silly he was.
John suggests we pause for a moment in our merriment:
Great review by Michael Shermer – Defying the Doomsayers.
Just got my Kindle copy of the book and have started reading it. Superb. I previously mentioned this book.
Here’s a few examples of the pace of change.
Continue reading “WSJ review of Abundance – the future is better than you think”
Walter Russell Mead is developing a picture of what the new economy might look like. Most recent post is Beyond Blue 5: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
That we are in the midst of a massive change in the whole economy has been obvious for a while. All the rules have changed.
What does this change look like?
The music, newspaper, and manufacturing industries are painfully aware of this. It is dawning on the publishing industry and the post office that the tidal wave of change has hit them. Primary education, higher education, and government at all levels haven’t caught on. I’m not sure where the CPA industry is at.
My opinion, shown clearly on this blog, is that our future is so bright we need sunglasses now.
At the same time, the transition will be terribly painful. Massive changes are needed to make the shift.
One huge area needing change is in the heavy hand of government regulation. Mr. Mead opens his post with:
Continue reading “How government could make the massive transition in the economy easier”
Transformation of the music industry is old news. Retail, publishing, and newspaper industries are changing before our very eyes. The Wall Street Journal described that Target stores are now working to deal with the ‘showrooming’ factor in their stores. That’s the trend that is devastating big box electronic stores (Best Buy) and booksellers (remember Borders?).
Up next? Well, maybe not next but soon, will be higher education.
Here’s three articles that paint the picture:
Continue reading “We can see the contours of the revolution in higher education”
An Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal describes yet one more view of the radical change surrounding us and the tremendous opportunities in our near future.
Mark P. Mills and Julio M Ottino discuss The Coming Tech-led Boom.
The causes of the transition and the reasons we should be optimistic about the future are familiar to me, and I hope to you as well if you’ve been reading this blog.
Continue reading “Yet another description of the exciting overall change surrounding us”