We tend to think about the future, we tend to assume that most things will stay similar and trends will continue in a linear fashion. This is almost never the case. The world is changing drastically in front of our eyes.
2020 brought a lot of surprises and black swans in our lives — including the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic depression that looms around the world.
For sure, we will witness large-scale changes and unexpected events in the next decade. One of the biggest drivers of change will be exponential technologies. Wired experts talk of Mars colonies, a permanent moon base, accelerated genome sequencing, little nuclear power plants, and a possible climate apocalypse.
Nowadays, we are witnessing a technological breakthrough almost every month. During August 2020, for example, GPT-3 — a new AI language model — has just been introduced. GPT-3 can generate poetry, prose, coding, humor, essays, song lyrics, fictional interviews, and stories. I think GPT-3 is uncanny and revolutionary — you can see glimpses of the future.
Technology companies have become more powerful than ever. Apple’s market value has surged to $2-trillion market value. Top 7 companies gained nearly two trillion in market value during the first seven months of 2020.
We will witness the rise of new technology unicorns, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence. These companies will be eventually more powerful than today’s companies such as Apple and Amazon.
During the 2020s, we will witness tremendous advances in 3d printing; autonomous vehicles; electric cars; drones; androids; virtual reality and gaming industries; voice technologies; artificial intelligence and automation technologies; blockchain; space exploration; asteroid mining; and renewable energy.
We will be working towards 17 global goals to achieve a shared global vision in 2030.
Climate emergency will be the defining issue of the 2020s and beyond — our survival as a species will depend on addressing this issue. We will start exploring and colonizing Mars; which will result in a multi-planetary civilization.
The world economy in 2030 will shift dramatically. Take a look.
Life in 2030 will be vastly different due to changing demographics as well. The world population is expected to reach 8.5 billion people by 2030. India will overtake China as the most populated country on Earth. Nigeria will overtake the US as the third most populous country in the world. The fastest-growing demographic will be the elderly: 65+ people will hit one billion by 2030. We will need to figure out ways of how to accommodate 100+ people at work.
Mauro F. Guillen has just written a new book titled “2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything”.
Guillen argues that many things that we take for granted today will dramatically shift in the next decade. In the book’s description, Guillen states:
“Once upon a time, the world was neatly divided into prosperous and backward economies. Babies were plentiful, workers outnumbered retirees, and people aspiring towards the middle class yearned to own homes and cars. Companies didn’t need to see any further than Europe and the United States to do well. Printed money was legal tender for all debts, public and private. We grew up learning how to play the game, and we expected the rules to remain the same as we took our first job, started a family, saw our children grow up, and went into retirement with our finances secure. That world — and those rules — are over. By 2030, a new reality will take hold, and before you know it:
- There will be more grandparents than grandchildren
- The middle-class in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will outnumber the US and Europe combined
- The global economy will be driven by the non-Western consumer for the first time in modern history
- There will be more global wealth owned by women than men
- There will be more robots than workers
- There will be more computers than human brains
- There will be more currencies than countries
All these trends, currently underway, will converge in the year 2030 and change everything you know about culture, the economy, and the world.
According to Guillen, we need to think laterally, adaptively, and creatively to prepare for this new world. This requires a peripheral and integrative vision that focuses on the dynamic interplay among a range of technological, political, economic, social, and demographic forces. Guillen predicts there will be cataclysmic changes converging and culminating in a tipping point by 2030.