I struggled with how to come up with a “brand” for my ideas that is neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic. Finally I landed on “The Disruptive Future” as the perfect combination of both. This is a quick article on why it is a more realistic way of looking at the change that is coming.
Disruption Is Neither Bad nor Good
Disruption is change and generally change is considered good. However, if you are disrupting a good system for a bad system then it is not going to be as good. In this case, Disruptive Future refers to the massive changes we will experience due to advances in technology, travel, communications and economics.
We do not get to choose if we get disrupted or not. It is already happening. Your choice is if you embrace it or fight it. Also, as a group we need to decide if we will accept the coming changes and plan to create better systems to leverage the changes, or keep trying to put band-aides on someone who’s parachute did not open. We can’t patch this stuff up with minor changes.
Disruption Has Been Accelerating For A While
There is not going to be one day where it all changes. Disruption has been happening at an accelerating rate to our society and economy for a while now. At some point it will have a bubble popping effect when the vast majority of people suddenly find their work no longer needed. It is up to all of us now to start planning for this day, not by creating more false jobs or pretending we can retain people. There has to be disruptive solutions to disruption.
Well Known Disruptive Future
There are going to be some big changes and we will either suffer or plan in advance for them. That is what I am trying to bring together. Great people to start working on real solutions for the impending disruptions. This should not surprise anyone. However, the assumption is that other people are working on it. Here is the general state of things.
- Government — Current Government is an obsolete tool of the last century. No, I am not an anarchist. Just we need a complete overhaul of the system. Voting from phones as issues come up. Local focus on project by project basis. Rid the system of people who fight and do not have a unified vision of what needs to be done. This is completely counter to the current government employees and elected officials best interests of conserving power for themselves. Nothing will be done by them. They simply keep ignoring the real problems and repeating outdated talking points.
- Big Companies — Yes, big companies are leading the change with great inventions. But they are not excited to talk about what really needs done. Simply put, these groups have shareholders they must keep happy and if they start talking about a post capitalism solution they will get run out of town. They also seek band-aides to prop up their existing model. BUI is Basic Universal Income and it basically says you will pay people a minimal wage regardless of work to make up for lost jobs due to AI and automation. But AI and big data will also make it very easy to get all of that money back from the BUI crowd and add to their debt, enslaving them and giving them very few resources to enjoy any luxury. (See my article on The Paradox of Austerity and Luxury.)
- Scientists — The vast majority of scientists are happy doing their research. They are not worried too much about the impact of advancements and they assume like most of us that the government will keep things under control. Even those who are more vocal do not necessarily work together as they should to create a true framework for the future. They are asking the questions, being fanboys or doomsday soothsayers, but not practical problem solvers like they should be.
Where I want to end this article is with a call to people interested in this topic to take seriously the need to start building new systems before the existing systems completely collapse. Sign up for our email right here if you want more information about this.