Industries: Metaphor

Mar
23

Look It Up: Information Wants to Be Free

Last week, after 244 years, Encyclopedia Brittanica announced it would be discontinuing the physical production of the iconic encyclopedia. Given the popularity (not to mention the breadth and accuracy) of Wikipedia, it’s not really much of a surprise. It is, however, a wonderful metaphor for the future of information in the sense that information wants [...]

Mar
17

A Metaphor for the Future?

There is little question humanity is becoming increasingly dependent on technology. For the most part, this is a good thing. There are, however, dangers of becoming overly dependent upon technology. Case in point: News from today reporting that three Japanese students followed GPS technology straight into the ocean. The take-a-way? The future will always require [...]

Mar
3

A Futurist Goes to the Movies

As a frequent keynote and conference speaker, I’m constantly looking for ways to connect with my audiences. One of the better methods to help them understand and appreciate how the future may—or may not—change is to use common cultural references. One of my favorite ways of doing this is to share interesting insights from Hollywood [...]

Apr
14

The Future is Ironic

I love irony. It is one reason I enjoy telling the story of how Bethlehem Steel’s once mighty steel plant has been converted into the National Museum of Industrial History by the Smithsonian Institute. In this same spirit, I just stumbled across this nugget on the Mim’s Bits Blog. It seems the massive 1.4 million [...]

Apr
28

Train Your Mind to See Different Views

Over the past year, the image of the “dancing lady” (to the right) has floated across the Internet in a viral fashion. Its popularity is due to the fact that some people see the image turning counter-clockwise, while others see it moving it a clockwise direction. (The general theory is that those people who see [...]