English | EN What it means to Reinvent: five great changes that might turn the world upside down
Mar 19, 2014
We talk about digital transformation and innovation all the time. Mostly we talk about how companies need to find ways to remain relevant, provide something of value to thrive instead of die. But what does ‘reinventing’ really mean? I think these are very special times, where the technological and digital dimension of the world have taken on an importance and stability that allows for reinventing the great concepts that make society. (I’m obviously not alone in this, see for example http://reinventors.net/ who are trying to discuss what needs to happen to bring about real change). What kind of concepts could change over time? Not the Sci-Fi types changes, but real societal changes? A few thoughts:
1. Living in Technology. We now accept that face-to-face, human-to-human interaction is the most important form of interaction there is, because that’s what mankind has grown up on. But is this an eternal truth? What if you discovered a remote island where a people had evolved who communicated through elaborate messaging systems but hardly ever met face to face? It could happen, right? Perhaps we will feel completely at ease with living our entire lives in interaction with digital devices and no longer say that ‘going out with friends’ ranks higher in enjoyment or importance than hanging out in our shared online virtual fantasy dungeon. (If only there was a way to procreate through email, right?)
2. Zero privacy is not so bad. In a group of primates other than people, there isn’t much privacy. We’ve built it into society over time, but nothing fundamental says that we couldn’t live without it. Seeing all people, all transactions, all photos and perhaps all thoughts and opinions would simply be the backdrop of a different society. We’d have to find a way to make democracy work without privacy, where minority opinions are safe from the majority rule, but really: it might just work! Our current upbringing may cause us to balk at the thought alone, but if you never knew any better? If you only read about this thing called privacy in history books?
3. Transparent Money. Imagine a currency that is completely traceable: every transaction is part of a public transaction log, where you can see where money flowed and how much money someone has. In some tribal cultures, everybody knows who owes who and which possessions belong to whom. Introduction of anonymous money surely helped create all kinds of new markets, but perhaps in the long run transparency wins over anonymity. You couldn’t ‘steal’ money anymore, you couldn’t have dictators funneling away large sums of money, you couldn’t even buy stolen goods without the transaction being recorded visibly for all to see. Scenario-wise, this comes pretty close to dystopian Sci-Fi movies, where there is always a blooming secondary black market, but then again: In theory total transparency could work for any ‘legitimate’ transactions, right?
4. Not Everybody Works. What if we become so super-productive that we break a magical barrier: where it takes on average less than one person to bring complete bliss into the life of another. Where one farmer can grow all the grain AND bake all the bread that everybody would eat? Where administrative systems have been automated into a piece of software? Where transportation is all done through self-driving cars? The traditional thinking is that we’d still be busy providing ever newer services and personalized pampering to people, but perhaps there is a maximum of products and services that a person wants to consume. If mindfulness, simplicity, bare-basic living becomes the definition of the good life, there may not be too much need for the next innovative thing. We now have 40 hour work-weeks (or sixty, or thirty-two, or whatever the norm is in your country), but why couldn’t it be four? (again, I’m not alone in these crazy thoughts). And perhaps some people LIKE to work, where others LIKE to play? What? Work just for fun? Why not?
5. People die if and when they want to. DNA based medicine, biological 3D printing and perhaps even transferring your ‘mind’ to a computer (yeah, sure, not in my lifetime), whatever credibility you adhere to in the advances in bio- and neurological research, the fact is: we can keep people alive MUCH longer and possibly VERY MUCH longer. But does everybody want to live forever? Sure, we hate dying when it’s forced on us, and evolution has bred a healthy fear of death and dying into us, but if you could live to be two hundred years? Or three hundred? When would you call it quits? What do they say: Death and taxes? Come to think of it, perhaps Taxes will change too?
Did I miss any? Post in the comments!
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