Key Point: My mother Mary is 88 years old and has seen a lot of changes in her life. Yet, relatively speaking, her experience has been mostly linear or incremental over nine decades. The changes in front of us however, will be exponential rather than linear. So what does that mean?
My sweet mom is a hero to me. She had to leave home at the age of 14 because my grandparents could not practically support her and two other children in a one room, log cabin on a ¼ section of scrub and rocks in northern Alberta. She took a train to Camrose, Alberta (which was like going to Mars), and worked as a chambermaid at the Alice hotel. Her room in the hotel was an old closet she cleaned out so she had a place to sleep. She met and married a shy 20-year-old farm boy at 17, and had me at 20. She and Dad lived on a ¼ section and mixed farmed; no power, no running water, outdoor toilet, and no vehicle. My brother arrived three years later and to make ends meet, my dad would try to work in the oil patch in the fall/winter. This meant him being away while my mom single handedly milked eight cows, did all the chores, looked after two infants, lugged water 30 meters from the well to the clapboard house, and navigated brutal winters… All on her own. I can still remember her delight when we moved to the city in 1956, and she walked around our little rented house flicking the light switches on and off. Her story gets even better… We’ll save that for another day. Thank you, Mom!
The startling reality is that the many changes my mom experienced will feel pedestrian compared to what futurists like Peter Diamandis predict. Examine all of Peter’s forecasts by reading his complete newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a dozen that may blow your mind:
“2018:
Quantum Supremacy Achieved: The first demonstration of a quantum computation that can’t be simulated with classical supercomputers is announced.
“2020:
Flying car operations take off in a dozen cities in the world.
The 5G Network unleashes 10-100 gigabit connection speeds for mobile phones around the world.
2022:
Robots are commonplace in most middle-income homes, able to reliably read lips and recognize face, mouth and hand gestures.
All toys are ‘smart’ with built-in machine learning.
2024:
The first private human missions have launched for the surface of Mars.
The first ‘one cent per kilowatt-hour’ deals for solar and wind are signed.
2026:
Car ownership is dead and autonomous cars dominate our roadways.
100,000 people commute by VTOL each day in L.A., Tokyo, Sao Paulo and London.
2028:
Solar and wind represent nearly 100 percent of new electricity generation.
Autonomous, electric vehicles account for half of all miles driven in large city centers.
2030:
AI passes the Turing test, meaning it can match (and exceed) human intelligence in every area.
Humanity has achieved ‘Longevity Escape Velocity’ for the wealthiest.
2032:
Medical nanorobots demonstrated in humans are able to extend the immune system.
Avatar Robots become popular, allowing everyone the ability to ‘teleport’ their consciousness to remote locations all over the world.
2034:
Companies like Kernel have made significant, reliable connections between the human cortex and the Cloud.
Robots act as maids, butlers, nurses and nannies, and become full companions. They support extended elderly independence at home.
2036:
Longevity treatments are routinely available and covered by life insurance policies, extending the average human lifespan 30-40 years.
2038:
Everyday life is now unrecognizable – incredibly good and hyper VR and AI augment all parts of the world and every aspect of daily human life.”
Personal Leadership Moves:
- Learn how the be adaptive in an exponential world. How might you prepare to live on a planet that in 20 years is “unrecognizable?”
- Mother Mary might have lived most of her life in an incremental world. However, her resilience and adaptive DNA like that within your ancestors, belongs to all of us. We will need to source every ounce of it. Tap into it with confidence. How exciting!
Unrecognizable moves in Personal Leadership,
Lorne
One Millennial View: Some of these are crazier than others, but back when us Millennials were playing Snake II on our Nokia phones, who knew we’d one day be annoyed if we didn’t get something called “free wifi?” Robot nannies, Mars colonization, Longevity Escape Velocity, VTOL commuting and AI passing the Turing test sound pretty nuts… But, then again, I just asked Alexa what time the University of Arizona’s NCAA March Madness basketball game was on tonight.
– Garrett
Edited and published by Garrett Rubis