Eelco Lodewijks - Technology Tsunami Alert

Change is now accelerating so rapidly that the experts estimate the world will probably see more change in the next 20 years than we saw in the past 2000 years, and I believe it. The most important concepts to take away from this is that absolutely everything in our lives is going to change so radically by 20302035 that you will hardly recognise our world. Anticipating that change is the art/science of Futurism. So, what is Futurism? My definition is as follows:

Futurism is the art/science of evaluating actual and emerging trends in all spheres of life, including the disruptive consequences of the convergence of many technologies and trends, for the next 10, 20, even 30 years, evaluating all the risks and opportunities, and then choosing a better future.

However, it is important to note that most foreseen changes frequently beget countless unforeseen changes, such as that Digital Phones morphed into infinitely versatile Smart Phones that put the world in your pocket. Therefore, Futurism not only about being prepared for the future, but also about being willing to adapt whenever life/technology throws you a curved ball.

Ideally, everyone needs to urgently embrace Futurism as you need to understand the impact that accelerating change, disruptive technologies, and other trends will have on your children, family, lifestyle, business, customers, wealth, society and country. The winners of the future will be those who choose to embrace change and adopt a new approach to life now, or by the latest 2025. I picked that date because 2030 could be too late. Regardless of the date, the longer we wait, the greater the risk that our future could be mediocre or even relatively regressive, instead of splendid.

This book is about the future, so please do not relate the revelations in this book to where we are now. Rather keep imagining where we are most likely going to be in a decade, because the purpose of this book is to show you what our world may look like in 20302035, inter alia:

To convey just how unbelievably rapidly the future is going to change, how all-encompassing that change will be and how unimaginably disruptive it will be to everything you know and hold dear;

To convey concepts, not details. Concepts create the life changing picture, whereas details can distract from that message, so please do not dwell on the details as these keep changing;

Not to give you all the answers, but to give you a broad overview and bring about a realisation of just how radical the breadth and rate of change will be;

Not to tell you what to do, but to reveal some of the tools you will need to cope with the disruption. NB! It will disrupt your life far sooner than you think;

To get you to say my life, children, family and business will benefit if I understand this space better and get you to actively engage in, and/or delve deeper into this topic;

To bring about the realisation that Futurism is very interesting and exciting. However, please remember that Futurism is about probabilities. It may not be right on everything, but it will be right on almost everything. It may not get the timing exactly right, but it will be close, and most things will probably happen sooner;

To get you to start Googling and YouTube-ing and start your own journey of discovery, since that is far more convincing at a personalised level.

There are a few problems with tackling such a broad and complex topic in a single book, because:

Pursuing a topic this broad is complicated by the fact that breakthroughs are happening daily, which means a cut-off had to happen at some point, where-after the publication process started;

The scope of this book is so broad that it is not possible to cover all the technological breakthroughs that are happening around the world today and certainly not in any detail. Therefore, you will no doubt think of things you feel I should have included in this book, but do not let that distract you from the overall message, which is the breadth and depth of the disruption;

Disruption is caused by the convergence of multiple technologies, which means I end up with a chicken and egg situation, in that terms and concepts need to be introduced before they are explored in greater depth in later chapters. Therefore, I recommend that you first skim through the chapter headings in the table of contents, so that you get a sense of the scope of this book and know that some of the terms and concepts, like Blockchain (the last chapter), will become clearer as you progress through the book. I have also provided a list of definitions, or should I say explained some terms, at the back;