Entrepreneurs, Don't Blink, the World Around is Changing too Fast! Smaller chips, faster processors, Google and Facebook's unwavering commitment to 'connect the world' and a worldwide government push to go digital are accelerating a change
By Vinay Anand
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Food, water and shelter. A century ago, it was upon these that we hung our hats. Fast forward a few decades, the Internet as we know it today, is indispensable to our existence, if not fundamental.
The adoption of the internet catapulted from millions of businesses to billions of households, when Silicon Valley's most celebrated showman, Apple's Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone that he promised was 'revolutionary'. The rest of that story has become legend.
Without giving into hyperbole, I truly believe if you fell asleep in 1985 and magically woke up in 1995, you would find a way to cope with the world.
But if you find yourself taking one of Matt Damon's Interstellar 10-year-nap in 2017, I promise you, you will not recognize the world in 2027. Here's why!
The rate of technological disruption today is incontrovertible. Smaller chips, faster processors, Google & Facebook's unwavering commitment to 'connect the world' and a worldwide government push to go digital are accelerating a change that if said euphemistically, is unprecedented. If you just pause for a second and begin to think, little over 10 years ago, there was no iPhone or smartphone or App Store; we still hailed cabs with a stretched arm, and Facebook was a 'website' with users less than population in Chongqing, China.
A decade on, we are in the middle of self-driving cars, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Augmented Reality, AI Voice Assistants and more. Snapchat, Facebook and a handful of others have already displayed significant strength in image recognition and Augmented Reality.
So what is it that the next decade beckons?
Augmented & Mixed Reality
A couple dog ears on our face seems hysterical today, but a simple tap on the reverse camera icon could open up the possibility of layering virtually anything in the real, and making our world truly augmented. And as smartphones shrink to contact lenses, an augmented world will be all but, ubiquitous. But hey, currently we're having fun with this sort of stuff, we use this technology to play games, like Pokemon Go.
Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies
Blockchain -- a technology that more people talk of than understand, is one of the most complex yet well thought out system. The Blockchain for all those who try to understand it, is a backend infrastructure with a distributed ledger that shows us the history of transactions of a particular product, person or service. What it will do -- is change the way we trust, change the way we interact and do commerce.
Imagine, buying a house and knowing all its previous owners, the changes, inspections, maintenance bills from the very get or buying a medicine and tracking its creation, packaging & distribution to ascertain its authenticity before purchase. Game changing!
If companies & entrepreneurs don't adapt, they will face stiff competition from a blockchain version of itself.
AI Voice Assistants & Internet of Things (IOT)
Everyone's calling it -- Alexa will be the new search engine! One in every 4 searches on mobile devices today is made through voice. This is staggering. Within a few years, AI voice assistants will be deeply woven into our lives. Want groceries? Tell your fridge. Want to book an urgent flight on your way to the airport? Tell your watch! Voice-driven computing will finally enable the Internet of Things.
So what next then, how must we deal with all of this? Can the 40-50 something generation adapt? It is a task both easy and difficult. We can complain, and we will because the sad truth about humans is that we have a fundamental problem of not being okay with things we do not grow up with. The truth is that things are rarely as good as you think they are and rarely as bad as you think they are. The harsh reality however remains -- you either adapt or get washed away. As entrepreneurs, we have had the Web 1.0 that brought information and search, 2.0 that came with communication and social networks, but this wave, in so many ways will redefine our offline human experiences like never before.
With a little foresight, this is the time to create for Blockchain, AI, Augmented Reality and more. Such is the excitement in the day-to-day of technological disruption, that the main plot is no more as riveting as the sub-plots around it. Someday not too far from now, we'll be begging for the day of Snapchat selfies. Oh! How the great world has spun!
Hey Alexa! Can you wake me at 7am, tomorrow?
