thinkfuture: technology, philosophy and the future

We are already cyborgs - we are already augmented humans - is our life more complex due to our technology or is our technology making our lives more complex. Personally, I feel that we are not using technology properly - it should serve us, not the other way around.

A wide-ranging discussion on education and why not everyone needs a college degree to get a good job. The founder of AlternativesToCollege.com talks about creating a resource for those who want to skip the college debt cycle. 

All you need to know about IP for your startup or great new idea - detailed interview with George Likourezos of Carter DeLuca

A masterful show with the master of productivity, Dr. Todd Snyder, a psychologist, productivity coach, and decision consultant. We deconstruct what you need to do to be successfully productive. 

Books mentioned on the show:

Find Dr. Snyder here: www.toddsnydercoaching.com

I’ve said many times before, being a futurist is like being a meteorologist, you are usually right, but at the wrong time. I think it’s futurist’s bane always to be right – but too early.  I feel as humans, we can look at the clues around us, and with some vision, put together a relatively reasonable scenario of where things will go.  We see things like Amazon Go or the Beta Store or Wheelys and think that yes, one day, we will all shop in stores where there are no workers. As we walk into the store, the store will detect who we are, and it will watch us pick up items in the store and put it into our cart, bag or basket, and then automatically charge us for the items as we walk out. We see this happening in a few places, and it’s not hard to predict that it will be more widespread.  Or autonomous cars – we see it happening and being tested in several areas, several states have made changes in their laws to help facilitate the use of autonomous vehicles. We go to conferences like CES and see not only autonomous vehicles, but also autonomous flying cars (which look like a large drone, sized to carry humans), and we here that companies in Dubai and Los Angeles are starting to test them.  We hear about Elon Musk's idea for Hyperloop, a train so fast that it can take us from San Fransisco to LA in an hour, something it takes six hours to drive now. We also hear about great recent strides in AI, powering virtual assistants, computer vision and machine learning, creating human facsimiles who may even be able to think like us one day. The exciting thing is that all of this is totally possible – some of it is also possible today.  It’s not the technology that is holding us back – many of these technologies exist and can be combined to build all of these innovations. So why aren’t they here today?

If you see a need, try to fill that specific need as simply, as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Don’t be afraid to put out something half-assed in your own mind; it might be the exact thing your customers want. Sometimes your best is too much, sometimes spending too much time refining, rewriting and tweaking to make something your best, might be the exact thing which kills it as a product. Next time, just start. Get it out there. Show off your best version to the world.

Does persistence always win over talent? Yes, for many reasons, but here are two: 1) if you keep going on anything - writing, dieting, working on your startup, eventually the moment will come when you will luck out and win and 2) persistence is additive - the more you do it, the more you have and the more you want to keep doing it.

William Shatner's philosophy is something that he developed from the days when he was a starving actor, desperate for roles. It was, simply put, “Say Yes To Everything.”

A wide-ranging discussion on ageism, marketing, the future. Plus some great start-up ideas and activism thrown in for fun. Links discussed on the show:

The Unstoppable Rise of the Zaddys -- in the New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/t-magazine/zaddy.html

Getty Images and AARP Launch the Disrupt Aging Collection

http://press.gettyimages.com/aarp-and-getty-images-launch-the-disrupt-aging-collection/

Refinery 29: Life Begins At....

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/ageism

Bratt Pitt is Still Searching

https://www.gq.com/story/brad-pitt-cover-profile-october-2019

Generations Now - Lisa LaMagna

https://getgenerations.com

Innovation IS risk, it requires risk, and without risk, how can you innovate? This company has just given the death knell to internal innovation. If the most critical metric in your employee’s objectives for the year is managing risk, how innovative do you think this company will be?