Futurist who predicted social networks sees ‘thought interfaces’ by 2016
Thought interfaces – that’s right. Soon enough we’ll be able to control our computers with our thoughts. Sound a little far-fetched? So did ‘micro-messaging’.
Ross Dawson, the Australian futurist, has a knack for predicting future trends in technology and business and is The Chairman of Future Exploration Network as well as a prominent international public speaker.
He is best known as the author of the best-selling book, Living Networks, published in 2002, in which he forecast the rise of social networks, micro-messages (Twitter), crowdsourcing and various other digital developments we now take for granted.
This week, Dawson released a list of extraordinary technologies he thinks will be commonplace by 2016.
They include:
People wearing video glasses as they commute, experiencing new forms of television, news updates and information about the world around them and people they meet.
‘Lifestreaming‘ will be commonplace. We will capture, store and share almost continuous videos, photos and conversations from our everyday lives.
We’ll have natural telephone conversations with computers, with almost all call centre staff replaced by automated systems.
Public measures of individual reputation will guide who we hire, do business with, and date.
Over 40% of us will work independently rather than as employees, many providing services to organisations all over the world instead of commuting to an office.
A next generation of ‘thought interfaces‘ will allow us to control our computers just by thinking. While the technology will still be basic, we’ll have begun to merge machines and humans.
What does this mean for digital advertising? All these new technologies are thought of on the basis of us spending more time on our computers meaning the migration of traditional advertising to digital will continue with full speed. However, advertisers will have to be clever in order to capture consumer attention if we only see what we want to see. Ads will have to be more viral, more entertaining and more tailored to individual needs.
What do you think?
