Whilst thinking about marketing and trends in search I came across a couple of videos that really interested me and made me stop.

The question is often asked how fast does the world change and especially for some of the more "out there" prognostications (such as virtual experiences and worlds, the rise of robots, "Minority report" style advertising etc) - when will these things become reality? I often think that it is easy Tomorrow's World style to shoot fast and loose on future predictions i.e. a 1970s TW promising we would all be driving around in flying cars by 2000.

I found a video on YouTube which is really worth watching. It outlines a view of the future that is very challenging and thought provoking. I have often thought that virtual worlds will become at least as powerful especially for the young as real world experiences and potentially much safer at least from a physical perspective, if not emotional/mental.

The imagining of how the consolidation of power in Google and Amazon is challenging. My only critiscism of this video is its somewhat US centricity (despite the strange "world" accent of the narrator). The rise of Indian and Chinese content providers and networks will undoubtedly move our worldview from an anglo-saxon one over the next 20 years. And that is probably no bad thing.

Anyway have a watch:

Now if you have spent 5 mins watching this video then you have reached the end 1 minute where the more "out there" claims are made. Are these claims TW style over the top or realistic. Well watch the following video:

And reflect that this was 16 years ago in 1993. All the change of email, internet, mobile, facebook, amazon, google, twitter, cloud computing etc all in an incredibly short time period.

Now think about the first video and 16 years away from now is 2025 - maybe the claims aren't such fantasy? How does that you make you feel?

Makes me feel a mix of hopeful, excited and terrified!

Comments welcome as always!

Justin
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