Peter Diamandis is a futurist and founder of Singularity University based in Silicon Valley. I was introduced to his thinking in his book “Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours” and it shifted how I thought about organizational development, competition, and technology and the absolute importance of staying current on emerging tools and ways of creating value for your customers. The pace of incremental improvements are no longer sufficient; you also need to invest, experiment, learn, and adjust far ahead of the curve if you want to stay competitive let alone increase your competitive advantage.
As you read Peter’s latest ten megatrends below, ask yourself how your customers could benefit from some of these trends, and then honestly assess how prepared your company is to begin addressing these opportunities.
10 METATRENDS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
(1) Continued Increase in Global Abundance: The number of individuals in extreme poverty continues to drop, as the middle-income population continues to rise. Everyday goods and services (finance, insurance, education, and entertainment) are being digitized and becoming fully demonetized, available to the rising billion on mobile devices. The case for abundance has massively proven out since the publication of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think in 2012.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: high-bandwidth and low-cost communication, ubiquitous AI on the cloud, growing access to AI-aided education and AI-driven healthcare.
(2) Global Gigabit Connectivity Will Connect Everyone and Everything, Everywhere, at Ultra-low Cost: The deployment of both licensed and unlicensed 5G, plus the launch of a multitude of global satellite networks (Starlink, OneWeb, etc.), allow for ubiquitous, low-cost communications for everyone, everywhere––not to mention the connection of trillions of devices. And today’s skyrocketing connectivity is bringing online an additional 3 billion individuals, driving tens of trillions of dollars into the global economy.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: low-cost space launches, hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power.
(3) The Average Human Healthspan Will Increase by 10+ Years: A dozen game-changing biotech and pharmaceutical solutions (currently in Phase 1, 2, or 3 clinical trials) will reach consumers this decade, adding an additional 10+ years to the human healthspan. Technologies include stem cell supply restoration, Wnt pathway manipulation, senolytic medicines, a new generation of Endo-Vaccines, GDF-11, and supplementation of NMD/NAD+, among several others. And as machine learning continues to mature, AI is set to unleash countless new drug candidates, ready for clinical trials. This is the topic of my next book called LIFEFORCE being co-authored with Tony Robbins and Bob Hariri, MD/PhD (Celularity) that will be available in February 2022.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: genome sequencing, CRISPR technologies, AI, quantum computing, and cellular medicine.
(4) An Age of Capital Abundance Will See Increasing Access to Capital Everywhere: Over the past few years, humanity hit all-time highs in the global flow of seed capital, venture capital, and sovereign wealth fund investments. While this trend will witness some ups and downs in the wake of future recessions, it is expected to continue its overall upward trajectory. Capital abundance leads to the funding and testing of “crazy” entrepreneurial ideas, which in turn accelerate innovation. Already, $300B in crowdfunding is anticipated by 2025, democratizing capital access for entrepreneurs worldwide. And even during a pandemic (2020), the world deployed more venture capital than ever before, handily beating out the last high-water mark in 2019.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: global connectivity, dematerialization, demonetization, and democratization.
(5) Augmented Reality and the Spatial Web Will Achieve Ubiquitous Deployment: The combination of Augmented Reality (yielding Web 3.0, or the Spatial Web) and 5G networks (offering 100Mb/s – 10Gb/s connection speeds) will transform how we live our everyday lives, impacting every industry from retail and advertising, to education and entertainment. Consumers will play, learn and shop throughout the day in a newly intelligent, virtually overlaid world. This is where technologies like SpatialWeb.net, Vatoms, and Apple’s next generation AR & VR headsets will shine.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power.
(6) Everything is Smart, Embedded with Intelligence: The price of specialized machine learning chips is dropping rapidly with a rise in global demand. Imagine a specialized $5 chip that enables AI for a toy, a shoe, a kitchen cabinet? Combined with the explosion of low-cost microscopic sensors and the deployment of high-bandwidth networks, we’re heading into a decade wherein every device becomes intelligent. Your child’s toy remembers her face and name. Your kid’s drone safely and diligently follows and videos all the children at the birthday party. Appliances respond to voice commands and anticipate your needs.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: AI, 5G networks, and more advanced sensors.
(7) AI Will Achieve Human-level Intelligence: As predicted by technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence will reach human-level performance this decade (by 2030). Through the 2020s, AI algorithms and machine learning tools will be increasingly made open source, available on the cloud, allowing any individual with an internet connection to supplement their cognitive ability, augment their problem-solving capacity, and build new ventures at a fraction of the current cost.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: global high-bandwidth connectivity, neural networks, and cloud computing. Every industry, spanning industrial design, healthcare, education, and entertainment, will be impacted.
(8) AI-Human Collaboration Will Skyrocket Across All Professions: The rise of “AI as a Service” (AIaaS) platforms will enable humans to partner with AI in every aspect of their work, at every level, in every industry. AIs will become entrenched in everyday business operations, serving as cognitive collaborators to employees—supporting creative tasks, generating new ideas, and tackling previously unattainable innovations. In some fields, partnership with AI will even become a requirement. For example: in the future, making certain diagnoses without the consultation of AI may be deemed malpractice.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: increasingly intelligent AI, global high-bandwidth connectivity, neural networks, and cloud computing.
(9) Most Individuals Adapt a JARVIS-like “Software Shell” to Improve Their Quality of Life: As services like Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod expand in functionality, such services will eventually travel beyond the home and become your cognitive prosthetic 24/7. Imagine a secure JARVIS-like software shell that you give permission to listen to all your conversations, read your email, monitor your blood chemistry, etc. With access to such data, these AI-enabled software shells will learn your preferences, anticipate your needs and behavior, shop for you, monitor your health, and help you problem-solve in support of your mid- and long-term goals.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: increasingly intelligent AI, neural networks, and cloud computing.
(10) Globally Abundant, Cheap Renewable Energy: Continued advancements in solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear and localized grids will drive humanity towards cheap, abundant, and ubiquitous renewable energy. The price per kilowatt-hour will drop below 1 cent per kilowatt-hour for renewables, just as storage drops below a mere 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, resulting in the majority displacement of fossil fuels globally. And as the world’s poorest countries are also the world’s sunniest, the democratization of both new and traditional storage technologies will grant energy abundance to those already bathed in sunlight. Incredible companies like Heliogen will be able to mine sunlight and water to create cheap, abundant hydrogen as a storage medium. We are also on the cusp of many breakthroughs in fusion power as capital, new materials, and entrepreneurs pour in this arena.
This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: materials science, hardware advancements, AI/algorithms, and improved battery technologies.
The decade ahead is going to be the BEST TIME EVER to be an exponential entrepreneur. With many dozens of Google-sized ($1T) opportunities emerging and thousands of multi-hundred-million-dollar startups on the horizon.
Are you clear about how you’re going to use these Metatrends? About what company you’re going to build next?”
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Adaptive Talent is a talent consultancy designed to help organizations achieve amazing results and ongoing adaptability. Founded in 2008 and based in Vancouver, Canada we offer retained and contingent search, assessments, training, leadership coaching (1:1 and group), leadership development programs, and culture & organizational development consulting.