The Brave New Future

I am reading a book right now which is taking a while because I am reading maybe 3 other books at the same time and I have been busy with other stuff. This book is about the future: Future Smart. I’ve mentioned this book before, possibly twice before and I probably will mention it a couple more times before I’m done with the book. It is an interesting book but it does come across rather Pollyanna-ish, although the author has interspersed his rosy outlooks with some warnings. The author portrays all of this new technology as bringing great wealth to everybody and ushering in a bright future filled with amazing stuff.

One amazing stuff he talks about in chapter 8 is an Internet untethered from the wireless environment that we have today. Today you have to log into the Internet via a wireless connection with passwords (or it could be a wired connection such as from your desktop). In the future, the Internet will just be swimming around you such that you won’t have to “log in”. It is just there, available for use. This is the Internet plus Internet of things.

Also, this Internet will know you: it will have watched you and learned from you what you desire, what you aspire, possibly what you are thinking. Since the Internet will be swimming around you, it will be with you everywhere you go (even the restroom?) and at all hours (even sleeping?). There will be no escaping it. It will be there to help you attain what you want.

He provides an example:

“You’re looking for a new job today. This is a mostly hit-or-miss, chaotic process of random events and connections that may or may not work out with the result – a job, and one you like. Now imagine Smart Technology that knows what you want, your skills, your desires as well as the nuances of your personality and your hidden talents – maybe things that even you don’t know about yourself.

Now this Smart Technology not only  predicts what type of job and finds where this job is available but also creates this job opportunity through the interaction and transaction of numerous Job Bots, algos, Innovation Ecosystems, web brokers, company websites and talent networks that stream across the web looking for talent and to represent employers or projects, all looking for the right fit for the job and the person. This will be the New Future – a shift from job hunting to job creation. Reality Engineering will create your next job or project.”

Hey, that sounds great! Sign me up!

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But what if your current employer doesn’t want to let you go?

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Suppose you are a highly valuable employee and the company does not want to let you work elsewhere. Remember all of those contracts that prevents you from working for another company until a couple of years passes?

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So whose desires will take precedence?

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