8 Exponential Trends That Will Shape Humanity
Our global society has entered a period of accelerated change, and these changes are reshaping entire industries, economic models and institutions. Our blind spot comes from the fact that we have traditionally inhabited a linear world. But today’s changes are exponential. From computing power to the growth of cities to the volume of content produced, changes and innovations are piling up faster than ever before.
Thomas Friedman’s quote from The World is Flat illustrates this point well:
(Remember, In 2005:) “Facebook didn’t exist for most people, Twitter was still a sound, 4G was a parking space, and ‘Skype’ was a typo”
Tracking Change to Understand the Future
Our job at sparks and honey is to understand the accelerators, balancers and patterns that are driving these exponential cultural changes in the near term and foreseeable future. Our team of cultural strategists and curators work with leading brands and thought leaders to apply these trends and use them as a catalyst for disruptive innovation.
We “eat culture for breakfast” in order to understand the value of emerging fringe signals, cultural shifts and explosive doubling patterns. While monitoring thousands of inputs and mapping and scoring them, we have identified 8 rapidly accelerating exponential trends that will shape institutions, governments, businesses and everyday consumers.
They are:
● The Century of the City State
● The Economics of Unschooling
● The Rise of the Citizen Doctor
● 3D Printing
● Quantified Everywhere
● Conscious Brands
● Ancient Wisdom
● Cyborg Marketing
Over the next few weeks we will be releasing eight different reports via our Slideshare page. Each of these short vignettes will explore one of the above 8 trends and some of the implications for organizations who want to prepare for the world of the future. We hope you engage us in the debate and exploration of how these exponential trends will shape your business and the world.
sparks & honey is a next generation agency that helps brands synchronize with culture. Follow us on Twitter at @sparksandhoney to stay up to date on the latest high energy trends.
image courtesy of Shutterstock.com
