By Michael Foster
As a small business owner, getting a grasp of the big picture on a global scale can be difficult. After two years of research, here is a list of predictions that can be considered a safe bet. Knowing how the future might play out can dramatically increase you chances of success.
Virtual World Officially Fills in Reality Gap
Expect the internet to become completely embedded in our everyday lives. Most citizens will carry either a smart phone or an iPad equivalent at all times. And with the emergence of an artificially intelligent web 3.0 (or whatever it will be called) the web will become far more dimensional. Navigation will feel more game-like while developers add cinematic elements of pacing and instant rewards to help the user mentally retain the vast amounts of information the web has to offer. Everyone will shop savvy as well, with competitor pricing and product origins at their fingertips. Tech trends like GPS, working from home and "smart" highways will greatly reduce congestion. Random internet outages will eventually send mobs of people into a panic. We literally won't know how to live without it.
Let's Talk About Sex… No, Not Like That…
Remember when the season premiere of Mad Man gathered far more attention than the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock? It makes perfect sense, as we are now experiencing another major shift in gender roles just like the society of the early 1960s. For numerous reason, women have officially outnumbered men in the workforce in 2010. This trend will continue as some men long for the "old provider days" to prove their worth while women will contend with another round of "equal pay for equal work." Gay rights will come to a head as well, either with massive legislation reform or major social unrest. In short: Divorce rates rise, institution of marriage continues to decline or be reevaluated, cementing of new gender roles.
Digital Riot Act
If we are in for another round of massive social change, you can certain expect another round of radical civil unrest. Although much of it will take place in the virtual world. Wikileaks is the first shot in this new information warfare revolution. Hackers from all countries and political agendas will dramatically up the ante in the internet arena, where laws remain difficult to enforce and social taboos are less established. At some point in the near future, someone will release critical secretive information the public will actually find intriguing. These leaks might be tied in with a strategically placed cyber warfare attack. This will in turn justify further FCC regulation, which could considerably slow down innovation and progress as the United States loses economic ground to China. In short: The battle for the internet has just begun.
Game On
It's hard to imagine that after thirty years, video games are still in the "silent film" era. With the advent of the Xbox Kinect and the vocal recognition of games like Rock Band… it's only a matter of time when a player will have to physically convince a video game character to do something using their voice and body language. Once we begin to literally "play" characters in our video games, they will overtake cinema as the predominant art form of the 21st Century. When to except the revolution: The next generation of video consoles, due to arrive sometime around 2013… which were delayed due to the recession, and thus has allowed for much more development and research.
The Cold War… Part II
Depending on your expert resource, the Chinese economy is due to overtake the United States sometime within in the next twenty years. And considering many current film directors and movie producers grew up during the Cold War, look for a cinematic return of Cold War attitudes towards Russia and China. We've already seen this in movies like "Salt (2010)" or video games such as the "Call of Duty" series. Expect the rhetoric and drum beating to accelerate. Maybe they can even render a younger looking digital Gene Hackman to appear in an upcoming spy thriller. The days of politically correct bad guys are over, for now.
In Us We Trust
After a decade a war, uncertainty and recession, "Generation X" will grow increasingly cynical. Corporations, politicians, salesmen…. are all assumed necessary evils in the minds of the Millennia. But every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In turn, with the increase of online resale websites like eBay or Swap.com… trust will become a major personal commodity. Also, look for internet movements that want to create entirely new systems that work beyond the limitations and government and corporations. The bottom line: In ten years, your credibility rating may be more important than your credit score.
Color My World
As advertising continues to grab your attention, it will become much more intricate and colorful. Look at the graphics for the 2012 London Olympics or the Japanese animated film "Summer Wars" as an indicator of future visual trends. Bright shiny metallic colors continue to seep into the fashion industry as well. And remember how cool all of those neon clothes in "Tron: Legacy" were? Look for glowing accessories like bracelets and chokers to go mainstream sometime mid-decade. When times are tough commerce likes to bend towards the light and colorful. Asian, Indian and Spanish styles will also have a larger influence in fashion as well. And as technology gets even cheaper, look for more colorful computer customization. Remember the first generation iMacs when you could choose a "flavor"? In short: Sleek loses ground, high complex style becomes trendy. Craft and fashion sites like Etsy go mainstream.
Biology Goes Boom!
Whether it be from less regulation, millions of aging baby boomers, or economic demand… expect biology to become the next boom industry. Companies overseas with less regulation may take an early lead in breakthrough innovation. Businesses with major funding from large economies will eventually gobble up the smaller private firms. Savvy investors will keep an eye out for the moment gene therapy goes mainstream, gets a great brand, or works around international law. For those that missed the tech boom, now is your chance to catch the next wave. Just beware of the expected mini-crash that will follow when badly managed companies falter.
Your Life is an Automatic Preferred Card
With the advent of mini-tracking chips, Facebook-like entities and corporate willpower… you will receive automatic rewards any time you do pretty much anything. Whether it be drinking a can of Pepsi, riding the Metra, or grabbing a Big Mac…you'll sign up for automatic rewards online and through technology, they'll keep track of the scorecard through your behavior. And the reward points won't be trivial either, you will be able to calculate your monthly budget with income and the thousands of accumulated reward points. By 2020, governments will scurry to tax the trillions of reward points handed out annually. The rub, you've just given away all of your personal information over to the corporate sector just so you can play along. Is this the Big Brother scenario everyone feared? No, but it will seem like an intrusion that came out of nowhere.
One More Suckerpunch to the Gut
Whether it be a crash of the medical system when the Baby Boomers fall ill, a massive internet meltdown... or a war in Korea or Pakistan… there is going to be major problem with a level of intensitiy of an event like 9/11 or the economic meltdown of 2008. Unfortunately we cannot predict what that would be, but we can anticipate possibilities and the aftermath. Biggest surprise: A North Pole conflict over unclaimed oil reserves.
