Shift Happens!

Merril Dubrow’s blog reports a video which is certainly a wake up call for anybody who thinks that the next 10 years will be similar to the last 10. The blog spells out several key themes.

1)    That China and India are going to make a massive impact on the world, for example there will soon be more English speakers in China than in any other country (the tone of the China section seems a bit xenophobic to UK readers, but I think that is not intended).
2)    We are living in exponential times. The amount of information, the speed of communication, the scale of person-to-person links is increasing at an increasing rate. This year more information will be created than was created in the previous 5000 years.
3)    The cost of entry to the wired world is falling, and the reach is spreading. For example, the $100 laptop programme for the third world hopes to ship 100-150 million laptops a year, which will more than double the global annual total of laptop.

I could argue with some of the details, especially some of the predictions, as I think the exciting potential of China could have been highlighted without the analogy of what would happen if every US job was moved to China.

But the impression created by the video and its key message are exactly right. The change over the next few years will dwarf anything we have seen to date. In summary “Shift Happens”. Click below and see what you think.