A future for humanity

(as it relates to technology primarily)

The input devices of the future are a big aspect for sure. What MIT is showing now is “really early stage” and would have many real world barriers. The flip side to Maes is Ben Schneiderman and their information design debate rages on around agents vs. direct manipulation. Pattie is still on the agents side (as was my Masters thesis) but she has moved towards direct manipulation interfaces.

I keep coming back to Carly Forina from HP’s comments about the future being: digital, virtual, personal and mobile.

That is also what I believe. So, thinking about it, the sixth sense that they talk about at TED is really just another implementation of the “WKID” meme in a very practical tangible sense.

My take on “what’s next” is a blend of:

1. More immediate input devices relying only on basic human gestures and interactions
2. Limitless storage and connection of data in the Cloud
3. Semantic Web (3.0) where human connections have deeper personal meaning – as web2.0 dies off we are already seeing super simple but super meaningful interfaces (like twitter for example) start to construct new meaning
4. Web 4.0 where we send out ideas and tasks come back (I actually have done some work on this if you’d like the full hypothesis ;)

Basically, to build the future, there no longer exists an idea of catching up or of getting ahead of the curve or indeed modernizing any more. There is just too much going on (Data and Information). What is HUGELY lacking (and therefore lucrative) is Knowledge and Wisdom. There are many times fewer pieces of W & K than there are I & D. The business will be found in filtering the correct signals from the hyper-inflated noise. BUT, Social Media is about the social not the media AND the difference between the focus of the WK aspects and the ID aspects is the transfer of core ownership from the system to the human.

We need to BE ahead, not get ahead. A quantum leap….or at least a few of us could go there and scout it out.

What do YOU think? Please comment/share/tweet etc ;) Thanks, I'm listening....

The meaning of life

Passion AND Purpose....perhaps? Here are some "memes" to consider:

• What will be on your epitaph?
• Connecting with others - how and why?
• Reality shocks - are we all in a state of shock right now?
• The supple bend in the strong wind - only the flexible will survive
• Multi-threading existence - now many threads...strands...personas could/should we persist?
• Make and mind the gaps - it's the space between "the stuff of life" that builds reality not the stuff itself
  
• Only do what you do best and enjoy, but do it better and more often

People to read:

Po Bronson

Tony Robbins

Dr Wayne Dyer


In the wider world of religion

The purposes of a Hindu's life are Dharma, Artha, Kharma, and Moksha.

• Dharma is the fulfillment of one's purpose;
• Artha is prosperity.
• Kharma is desire and enjoyment and
• Moksha is of course, enlightenment.

Buddhism talks of The Noble Eightfold Path

In order to fully understand the noble truths and investigate whether they were in fact true, Buddha recommended that a certain lifestyle or path be followed which consists of:

1. Right Understanding

2. Right Thought

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

Sometimes in the Pali Canon the Eightfold Path is spoken of as being a progressive series of stages which the practitioner moves through, the culmination of one leading to the beginning of another, but it is more usual to view the stages of the 'Path' as requiring simultaneous development.

The Eightfold Path essentially consists of meditation, following the precepts, and cultivating the positive converse of the precepts (e.g. benefiting living beings is the converse of the first precept of harmlessness). The Path may also be thought of as a the way of developing ala, meaning mental and moral discipline.

In tougher times, do we need to dig deeper into "meaning"?

Twits - the ruling class of 2009

10 Ways Twitter Will Change Blog Design in 2009 and/or the Wooooorld.

Get them all and try them out or read Macworld's review of Twitter Apps for the iphone

Insert URLs in tweets from the iphone using Twitfire

To have other people do your tweetin' work for you, just use twitthis:

TwitThis is an easy way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post or website. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter.