Science and Society, Technology

Beyond 2020

   aimee

I admit it, I’m a sucker for future scenarios.

No, not necessarily because I think they’re accurate (or expect them to be!), but because they can exercise the mind wonderfully, reveal much about our present.  The best science-fiction is like this, too :)

And yes, sometimes, they can absolutely be useful in preparing for the future.

And it is with this in mind that I present the latest offering from MindBullets, founded by compatriot Wolfgang Grulke and his think tank FutureWorld. More on the presentation and its themes is available on their website.

[slideshare id=10275269&doc=beyond2020-111122113412-phpapp02]

What do you think?  With which scenarios do you agree/disagree?

I get emails from MindBullets every week, and can thoroughly recommend it - nope, I don’t always agree with the futurecasting, but sometimes, it’s pretty feasible.  And, again, a great exercise :)

Actually, there’s a thought - how interested would y’all be in my sharing more of these nuggets?

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Related posts:

Mindbullets goodness: The Avatar Wars

  • David Preece

    3d printing of everything? Not for ages and ages.

  • ShadowMind

    I agree; the raw materials still need to get to the printer. Raw materials and logistics companies ‘in turmoil’? More like ‘in massive growth’!

  • http://sciblogs.co.nz/ariadne Robert

    Hi Aimee

    I can’t say that I’m impressed with the scenarios. They come across as Future-lite, seen through rose-tinted contacts. I’d like more than a set of slides and bullet-like points. Their Mindbullet pieces are much better. The one interesting slide for me was whether the old west were the only ones to have green passions.

    The biggest gap in FutureWorld’s scenarios is that nobody seems to be producing stuff - beyond the DIYers with their 3D printers.

    It also annoys me that many futurist types get all vague about the great stuff that bio- and nano-technologies will be delivering. “Bio - and nano have spawned massive new industries!” It would be nice to know more about what they are.

    Being a company, they are obviously not going to give their good stuff away for free. But I prefer Z_punkt - http://www.z-punkt.de/en.html - as a corporate foresight source.

  • aimee whitcroft

    You make a good point, Robert, thanks.

    As with any presentation, it loses a lot without the spoken part, where one images the points would be spoken around and fleshed out. And it’s a _presentation_, not a paper/report, so it’s not really possible or appropriate to go into lots of detail in the first place. Some thought-points, really, but that’s about it (and what I’d expect from such).

    Thanks for the link to z-punkt!