Change

There will always be a portion of society that struggles with change. Change creates risk and risk makes people very nervous. 

In fact, embracing change can be a dreadfully slow and difficult process, which is why the rewards are so high (both professionally and personally) for those who possess the toughness, dynamism and creativity to embrace it. 

Having said this, despite the certainty to which 'change' affects the human race, for the most part, it has been a very a slow and gradual phenomenon- until now.   

Andrew McAfee -a rather excellent economist and futurist- presented the chart below to support his suggestion that change (represented by population) is actually a relatively new thing and moreover, it is almost entirely fueled by technology. 

This is -by itself- quite an astonishing finding given our notorious and celebrated history. Regardless of how culturally enriching our past may have been- it was the technology that moved the needle of progress. 

Since the Industrial revolution, we have created electricity, computers and networks with the last two getting exponentially cheaper and faster with every year that passes. With increasing amounts of compute power at our disposal, we have been able to write increasingly sophisticated software that is able to do more and more complex work.

What's more, we use today's computers to design tomorrow's computers and today's software to help write tomorrow's software. Soon the 'we' element of this equation will be removed also because computers will eventually design themselves and write their own software at much faster pace. 

This is quite naturally a petrifying thought for most people. 

Even those championing the progress of digital technologies harbour a fair amount of anxiety around the unknowns and implications of a future fuelled by sentient silicon. Who wouldn't?

Source: Andrew McAfee, TED conference.

It is right in some respects to consider the impact of new technologies. The speed at which new technologies are emerging is unprecedented but no matter how hard we look, there is no brake pedal to reach for. There is no pause or rewind button. We are well and truly in the digital and information age and change is hitting us wave after wave. There is no point denying the progress digital technologies have made and it is even less fruitful to try and prevent or hinder their use. 

I don't subscribe to the views of those who proclaim life to have been better in the past. Over a long enough timeline, this is a ridiculous thing to say, especially when you consider the data. The world is simply a better place today. It is true that we still have poverty, lawlessly and wars to deal with but the scale of the problem is nothing compared to years gone by. 

World War II for example, was a horrific period in human history that I sincerely hope is never repeated and it is but one of the many wars that litter the track record of the 'good old days' (sarcasm). 

If you haven’t seen Neil Halloran's 'The Fallen of World War II' video on Vimeo yet, it is well worth a watch. I have embedded the video below for your convenience. It articulates the scale and impact of WWII but more importantly, how life has changed for the better.

I acknowledge that change can be daunting -even more so for our civil and business leaders who are trying to navigate these choppy digital seas- and it is well and truly the case that we do not know what the future holds for certain, but isn't that what makes life worth living? 

Change is the one and the only route to progress and whilst our world may be a better place to live in today compared to 50 years ago, imagine how great it will be 50 years in the future. 

Exciting times!

The Fallen of World War II

from Neil Halloran on Vimeo.