We are always at the threshold of the future. But whereas in the past, the path beyond seemed like a gradient, with a horizon that one might dimly view, today it seems to resemble a graph of seismic activity. Our threshold is a brink.
The main reason for this altered future landscape is often given as the breakneck acceleration of technology. While previous technological revolutions occurred over millennia (farming) or centuries (industrialization), comparable breakthroughs today happen in a matter of years, with little predictability. And with an engulfing wave of automation rearing up – think not just industrial robots and driverless cars, but also the myriad ways in which computerized and digital technology has colonized our work and personal lives – the stage is set for an age of disruption.
