The Future Is Here NOW!

 

 

In 1998, Kodak had 170,000 employees and sold 85% of all photo paper worldwide.  Within just a few years, their business model disappeared and they went bankrupt.

What happened to Kodak will happen in a lot of industries in the next 10 year – and most people don’t see it coming. Did you think in 1998 that 3 years later you would never take pictures on paper film again?

 

Yet digital cameras were invented in 1975. The first ones only had 10,000 pixels but followed Moore’s law. So as with all exponential technologies, it was a disappointment for a long time, before it became way superior and got mainstream in only a few short years. It will now happen with Artificial Intelligence, health, autonomous and electric cars, education, 3D printing, agriculture, and jobs. Welcome to the 4th Industrial Revolution. Welcome to the Exponential Age.

 

Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years.

Uber is just a software tool, they don’t own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don’t own any properties.

 

Artificial Intelligence: Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world. This year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected. In the US, young lawyers already don’t get jobs. Because of IBM Watson, you can get legal advice (so far for more or less basic stuff) within seconds, with 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans. So if you study law, stop immediately. There will be 90% fewer lawyers in the future, only specialists will remain. Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, 4 times more accurate than human nurses. Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans. In 2030, computers will become more intelligent than humans.

 

Autonomous cars: In 2018 the first self-driving cars will appear for the public. Around 2020, the complete industry will start to be disrupted. You don’t want to own a car anymore. You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination. You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and can be productive while driving. Our kids will never get a driver’s license and will never own a car. It will change the cities because we will need 90-95% fewer cars for that. We can transform former parking space into parks. 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide. We now have one accident every 100,000 km, with autonomous driving that will drop to one accident in 10 million km. That will save a million lives each year.

 

Most car companies might become bankrupt. Traditional car companies try the evolutionary approach and just build a better car while tech companies (Tesla, Apple, Google) will do the revolutionary approach and build a computer on wheels. I spoke to a lot of engineers from Volkswagen and Audi; they are completely terrified of Tesla.

 

Insurance companies will have massive trouble because, without accidents, the insurance will become 100x cheaper. Their car insurance business model will disappear. 

Real estate will change. Because if you can work while you commute, people will move further away to live in a more beautiful neighborhood.

Electric cars will become mainstream until 2020. Cities will be less noisy because all cars will run on electric. Electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean: Solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years, but you can only now see the impact. Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil. The price for solar will drop so much that all coal companies will be out of business by 2025.

With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water. Desalination now only needs 2kWh per cubic meter. We don’t have scarce water in most places, we only have scarce drinking water. Imagine what will be possible if anyone can have as much clean water as he wants, for nearly no cost.

 

Health: The Tricorder X price will be announced this year. There will be companies who will build a medical device (called the “Tricorder” from Star Trek) that works with your phone, which takes your retina scan, your blood sample and you breathe into it. It then analyses 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease. It will be cheap, so in a few years, everyone on this planet will have access to world-class medicine, nearly for free.

 

3D printing: The price of the cheapest 3D printer came down from $18,000 to $400 within 10 years. In the same time, it became 100 times faster. All major shoe companies started 3D printing shoes. Spare airplane parts are already 3D printed in remote airports. The space station now has a printer that eliminates the need for the large amount of spare parts they used to have in the past.

At the end of this year, new smart phones will have 3D scanning possibilities. You can then 3D scan your feet and print your perfect shoe at home. In China, they already 3D printed a complete 6-storey office building. By 2027, 10% of everything that’s being produced will be 3D printed.

 

Business opportunities: If you think of a niche you want to go in, ask yourself: “in the future, do you think we will have that?” and if the answer is yes, how can you make that happen sooner? If it doesn’t work with your phone, forget the idea. And any idea designed for success in the 20th century is doomed to failure in the 21st century.

 

Work: 70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years. There will be a lot of new jobs, but it is not clear if there will be enough new jobs in such a small time.

 

Agriculture: There will be a $100 agricultural robot in the future. Farmers in 3rd world countries can then become managers of their field instead of working all days in their fields. Aeroponics will need much less water. The first Petri dish produced veal is now available and will be cheaper than cow produced veal in 2018. Right now, 30% of all agricultural surfaces is used for cows. Imagine if we don’t need that space anymore. There are several startups who will bring insect protein to the market shortly. It contains more protein than meat. It will be labeled as “alternative protein source” (because most people still reject the idea of eating insects).

 

There is an app called “moodies” which can already tell in which mood you are. By 2020, there will be apps that can tell by your facial expressions if you are lying. Imagine a political debate where it’s being displayed when they are telling the truth and when not.

 

Bitcoin will become mainstream this year and might even become the default reserve currency.

 

Longevity: Right now, the average lifespan increases by 3 months per year. Four years ago, the life span used to be 79 years, now it’s 80 years. The increase itself is increasing and by 2036, there will be more that one year increase per year. So we all might live for a long long time, probably way more than 100.

 

Education: The cheapest smartphones are already at $10 in Africa and Asia. Until 2020, 70% of all humans will own a smartphone. That means everyone has the same access to world class education. Every child can use Khan academy for everything a child learns at school in First World countries. We have already released our software in Indonesia and will release it in Arabic, Swahili and Chinese this Summer because I see an enormous potential. We will give the English app for free so that children in Africa can become fluent in English within half a year.

 

Boom!

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Gardening is one of my hobbies. Until very recently, I spent a great deal of time and effort driving to various garden centres to find the perfect accessories for my garden. However, lately, I have become much more comfortable purchasing items online. The biggest advantage to buying items online is that you save a great deal of time and effort. When you shop for books, music, gift baskets and garden supplies such as fiber glass planters online, you get a tremendous selection and you know exactly what you are ordering.

I purchased a fiberglass planter over the internet and was very happy with the product when it arrived at my home. A number of sites, such as eplanters.com are designed to help the customer with the shopping experience and completing the transaction easily and thoroughly. They also offer a wide variety of products at reasonable prices. I found that fiberglass planters look great in my garden. Not only was it very decorative but the quality was excellent and I’m confident that it will last a long time.

The Internet is there 24/7, and is always willing to wait for you to come make a purchase whether it be the latest novel or the fiber glass planters that you know will be beautiful in your garden.

Note: The preceding was a paid review.

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Here his mate is injured and the condition is fatal.
She was hit by a car as she swooped low across the road.

Here he brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion.

He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead.
He tried to move her….a rarely-seen effort for swallows!

Aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again,
he cries with adoring love.

He stood beside her, saddened of her death.

Finally aware that she would never return to him, he
stood beside her body with sadness and sorrow.

And many people think animals don’t have a brain or feelings?????

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I recently received a Gift Basket from a friend. It contained 2 bottles of wine, assorted cheeses, crackers and some golf balls and golf tees. It was such a thoughtful gift!

There are a number of very good reasons why sending a gift basket to someone special is such a good idea!

With the increase in confidence with ordering on line and improved websites, ordering and sending gift baskets is a very time saving and effortless procedure.

Gift Baskets come in a variety of sizes and price ranges which is ideal for the budget conscious shopper.

They provide excellent value and can be tailored to particular occasions or persons. Themed baskets provide the sender with the ability to send a very thoughtful and personal gift. There are so many different types of themes you can start with including baby gift basket, Christmas gift basket, mothers day gift basket, fathers day gift basket, dog lover gift basket, cat lover gift basket, golf gift basket, tennis gift basket, housewarming gift basket, lovers gift basket… the list is endless.

Choosing a basket on line means you can shop from the comfort of your home. No driving, no parking, no standing in line. Shipping is a very safe and efficient way to send gifts and fees are quite reasonable and sometimes free.

The recipient is often pleasantly surprised and happy (like I was when I received my recent basket). Gift Baskets convey the feelings of the sender in a way that is unique and personal.

Most of all, gift baskets are fun to send and receive!

Note: The preceding was a paid review.

Continue reading about Reasons why Gift Baskets are such good ideas!