In exactly 45 minutes, I will be having my series of classes. Now, I am taking this time to write what I am about to share to my students.
The lesson is on the emergence of trends and I am going to share to you some of the few points I realized about the lesson. Human beings according to David Mattin build trends based on man's basic needs and he tried to summarize them into -- connection, status and belief. As man by nature is a social animal according to Aristotle, connection becomes a basic need for him. Evidently, the trend is on people's connection to other beings as in social media, virtual dating apps and even virtual companions such as the Gatebox created in Japan serving as a virtual friend, aid and companion by any individual who has it. Trend predictions say that more inventions will be created or even in the making already to meet the demands of this human need.
The second basic need is status. This is focused on man's need to elevate himself in the desire of upgrading his capacities as a creature in the universe. Thus, he make himself a lab rat as seen in movies only years back. Now, inventions like the Electrospit Talkbox has been invented. The purpose of this invention is to make anybody become a potentially good singer. The gadget has to be wrapped around the neck and the voice can be manipulated by the person through something I would just call a remote control. In the near future, perhaps man can already put into reality those flying suits of Tony Stark in Iron Man. Whoah! Would I live that long to see with my own eyes?
Finally, man also needs to make better his beliefs. Here, he becomes like god and creates worlds on his own. He creates utopias where he could enjoy life without pain but only peace, order and satisfaction. Thus, he started making virtual worlds like in the game Fortnight which became a fad for some time. With his desire to escape the agony of reality, he creates virtual realities and calls them his own.
The next wave? well...who knows?
In the end, trends are just trends but it will still be up to man (you and me) to decide what to do and how to react on these emerging trends.
