Daily Archives: March 19, 2013

The Noble Snipers "Shoot The Futurist"
The Noble SnipersShoot The Futurist. Uploaded by Meka Scales on Mar 14 2013. 1972 dollface.

By: Meka Scales

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The Noble Snipers "Shoot The Futurist" - Video

In 1963, in the depths of the Cold War, all of the futurists in the world could probably assemble in a largish conference room and still have space for an overhead projector. Half a century later, it would take a small stadium to hold all of the people who use the title in some form. The world of futures is a broad church today populated by everyone from author and inventor Ray Kurzweil and hisobsessive focus on the singularitytoKanye West with his future-esque fashionfetishes. While its been a relatively quiet profession for a long time, suddenly it seems like futurists are all around, feeding a growing appetite for all things strange, metallic, and digital.

Why, and why now?

Full disclosure:I do this for a living, having been given the title of futurist by an employer a decade ago. My practice hasnt been atypical of working futurists, formally using foresight and research to help big brand names, governments, and nonprofits navigate complexity. With a daily menu that can veer from the topicsdu jour(drones,algorithms gone wild,3D printing,augmented reality, andsmart cities) to long-running classics such asaging populations,green energyorfood sustainability, futurists work is seldom boring and often puts them face-to-face with the unusual, the atemporal, and the downright weird. While the world of the futurist used to be much farther removed from the general public, perhaps only appearing through an interest in science fiction, it now jumps off the front page of the broadsheets.

There are different flavors of futurists. There is the professional, consulting kind, many of whom trained in a formal university or professional program, and use structured methods and tools to help large organizations make sense of trends and develop strategies. There are the self-proclaimed futurists who are enthusiasts of a specific area such as technology, food, health, culture and so on, who dedicate themselves to furthering a favored future (here I would place Kurzweil and kin). Then, there are the broader masses of folk who like the idea of the future, and speak about leading others there, or just surround themselves in the trappings of all that is shiny and future-esque.

Superdensity is now

One could argue,as I have before, that we are in a pretty future-dense moment, with a number of major global issues, from climate change to energy to health to media and communication all very obviously teetering on the edge of massive change. With major natural, social and economic systems facing perturbations, and with the global economy so closely intertwined,we feel the rattle from these shocksin ways we didnt decades ago. Global systems, and real-time awareness, create effects on a worldwide scale. Anuclear accident in one country, can cause a rethink of energy policya continent away, even before the trace radiation spreads.Risks tracked by groups like the World Economic Forumappear to be multiplying; evenCambridge University has recently set up a center for the study of existential risks

Short of world wars and oil embargoes, we havent until recently sensed every shake or shudder in another part of the world. But when a new smartphone or piece of code released in one country this morning can be in the hands of another by tonight, orsupply chains are disrupted quickly by unexpected events, or a biological innovation can be knocked off quickly bysemi-pros working in a closet, not only do business and governments look for advice, but societies also seek some kind of orientation.

Its possible that these volatile times have encouraged more people to identify as futurists, or as future-minded.The usual professional training groundsa handful of universities, corporations with internal future research teams, and specialist agenciesarent producing markedly more futurists these days than they have in the past decade (though several newuniversity programshave joined a few of theoldergraduatedegree programs). There are probably fewer than 100 new graduates from these programs a year, and many dont go on to punditry, but work within companies. However, the market is calling for expert opinions at a far higher rate as the velocity and intensity of the new increases. The boom in tech blogs and major media microsites focusing solely on the future has put more focus on finding people who are on the front lines of making these futures happen, or dealing with their consequencesengineers, social scientists, designers, coders, ethicists, etc., as well as generalist pundits.

From future to recent past, quickly Science fiction writer Bruce Sterling determined that parts of future promised in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s has now reached a present state. For Sterling, this has meant spending more timechronicling that weird present, andcounseling those fashioning the next phaseas a design critic and mentor.

Big brands have also entered the fray, taking advantage of the lack of a coherent narrative about the future to do what I call strategic bending.These companiesposition themselvesas creators of The Future in high-budget marketing of the kind we now see around cars, mobile phones, and defense systems.Because so much of their business is wrapped up in the sales of so-called ecosystems of complementary products and services (think iEverything), they need the average person to see their brands way as the path into to the future.

Continued here:
Everyone Is A Futurist Now

In 1963, in the depths of the Cold War, all of the futurists in the world could probably assemble in a largish conference room and still have space for an overhead projector. Half a century later, it would take a small stadium to hold all of the people who use the title in some form. The world of futures is a broad church today populated by everyone from author and inventor Ray Kurzweil and hisobsessive focus on the singularityto Kanye West with his future-esque fashion fetishes. While its been a relatively quiet profession for a long time, suddenly it seems like futurists are all around, feeding a growing appetite for all things strange, metallic, and digital.

Why, and why now?

Full disclosure: I do this for a living, having been given the title of futurist by an employer a decade ago. My practice hasnt been atypical of working futurists, formally using foresight and research to help big brand names, governments, and nonprofits navigate complexity. With a daily menu that can veer from the topics du jour (drones, algorithms gone wild, 3D printing, augmented reality, and smart cities) to long-running classics such as aging populations, green energy or food sustainability, futurists work is seldom boring and often puts them face-to-face with the unusual, the atemporal, and the downright weird. While the world of the futurist used to be much farther removed from the general public, perhaps only appearing through an interest in science fiction, it now jumps off the front page of the broadsheets.

There are different flavors of futurists. There is the professional, consulting kind, many of whom trained in a formal university or professional program, and use structured methods and tools to help large organizations make sense of trends and develop strategies. There are the self-proclaimed futurists who are enthusiasts of a specific area such as technology, food, health, culture and so on, who dedicate themselves to furthering a favored future (here I would place Kurzweil and kin). Then, there are the broader masses of folk who like the idea of the future, and speak about leading others there, or just surround themselves in the trappings of all that is shiny and future-esque.

Superdensity is now

One could argue, as I have before , that we are in a pretty future-dense moment, with a number of major global issues, from climate change to energy to health to media and communication all very obviously teetering on the edge of massive change. With major natural, social and economic systems facing perturbations, and with the global economy so closely intertwined, we feel the rattle from these shocks in ways we didnt decades ago. Global systems, and real-time awareness, create effects on a worldwide scale. A nuclear accident in one country, can cause a rethink of energy policy a continent away, even before the trace radiation spreads. Risks tracked by groups like the World Economic Forum appear to be multiplying; even Cambridge University has recently set up a center for the study of existential risks .

Short of world wars and oil embargoes, we havent until recently sensed every shake or shudder in another part of the world. But when a new smartphone or piece of code released in one country this morning can be in the hands of another by tonight, or supply chains are disrupted quickly by unexpected events, or a biological innovation can be knocked off quickly by semi-pros working in a closet, not only do business and governments look for advice, but societies also seek some kind of orientation.

Its possible that these volatile times have encouraged more people to identify as futurists, or as future-minded.The usual professional training groundsa handful of universities, corporations with internal future research teams, and specialist agenciesarent producing markedly more futurists these days than they have in the past decade (though several new university programs have joined a few of theolder graduate degree programs). There are probably fewer than 100 new graduates from these programs a year, and many dont go on to punditry, but work within companies. However, the market is calling for expert opinions at a far higher rate as the velocity and intensity of the new increases. The boom in tech blogs and major media microsites focusing solely on the future has put more focus on finding people who are on the front lines of making these futures happen, or dealing with their consequencesengineers, social scientists, designers, coders, ethicists, etc., as well as generalist pundits.

From future to recent past, quickly Science fiction writer Bruce Sterling determined that parts of future promised in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s has now reached a present state. For Sterling, this has meant spending more time chronicling that weird present, and counseling those fashioning the next phase as a design critic and mentor.

Big brands have also entered the fray, taking advantage of the lack of a coherent narrative about the future to do what I call strategic bending. These companiesposition themselves as creators of The Future in high-budget marketing of the kind we now see around cars, mobile phones, and defense systems.Because so much of their business is wrapped up in the sales of so-called ecosystems of complementary products and services (think iEverything), they need the average person to see their brands way as the path into to the future.

Here is the original post:
From Ray Kurzweil to Kanye West, everyone’s a futurist now

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Kodak today announced that renowned author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil will keynote its Global Directions 2013 conferencean annual technology and educational event sponsored by the companys document capture and enterprise software business unit. The conference, scheduled for September 22-25 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C., will explore "Intelligent Information Management" and how its deployment provides businesses with a competitive advantage. This years theme includes topics on the importance of collaboration platforms for enterprise-wide information management, managing social media as a vital information stream, and the next generation of software that not only manipulates and stores vast amounts of data but can also intelligently process the valuable information contained within it.

Kurzweil is uniquely qualified to discuss new approaches to information management. He was recently named Director of Engineering at Google and is widely regarded as one of the greatest inventors of our time. He was the principal developer of the first omni-front optical character recognition (OCR), the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, and the first CCD flat-bed scanner. PBS honored Kurzweil as one of "16 Revolutionaries Who Made America," Forbes magazine has referred to him as "the ultimate thinking machine and Inc. magazine described him as the rightful heir to Thomas Edison.

Ray Kurzweil is a pioneer of our industry, said Dolores Kruchten, President, Document Imaging and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. Without his contributions, we might not be having this conference. Ray is the perfect headliner for a blockbuster lineup of speakers and exhibitors.

Business leaders attend Global Directions (http://www.globaldirections2013.com/) to examine solutions to critical issues affecting their organizations. The conference agenda features cutting-edge case studies, end user presentations and technology demonstrations. Notable attendees include some of the most renowned thought leaders, analysts and journalists in the information management industry. The event is designed to advance education, knowledge and actionable business strategies in the application of information management to meet the future needs of the global business community. Topics range from extracting business content from scanned paper documents, to document processing workflows for enterprise platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint, to high performance software that can understand, classify, extract and automate data flows from a variety of input sources such as documents, voice mail and social media.

To learn more about the Global Directions 2013 conference agenda and registration, please visit http://www.globaldirections2013.com. Also, please join the conversation on Twitter by following @KodakDI (hash tag #gd13).

About Kodak's Document Imaging Business

Kodak's Document Imaging business enables customers to capture and manage valuable information from electronic and paper documents. Our solutions include award-winning scanners and capture software, information workflow software, an expanding range of professional services, and industry-leading service and support. From small offices to global operations, Kodak has the solutions to automate your business processes and intelligently deliver the information your enterprise needs.

For more information, please visit kodak.com/go/docimaging. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/kodakdi.

(Kodak is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.)

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Iconic Inventor, Author, and Futurist Ray Kurzweil to Keynote Kodak Global Directions 2013 Conference