Conscious Deceleration. Algorithmic Beauty. Morality Recoded. Revelation Brands … a peak at some of the big “trends” shaping today’s markets

July 7, 2019

Trends can be exciting, inspiring and sometimes even insightful. They spark our imaginations, shape our innovations and confirm our intuition. They help us make sense of the big picture, and where we are going, and how to tune into consumers today. They can drive a business in new directions, to create new markets, develop better solutions, and engage people more deeply.

The problem is that there are so many trends – books, directories, agencies and gurus. In reality most of the so-called trends are not a significant new direction, and a symptom of it. The really big trends are more scarce and enduring. What we really see is a lot of fads and fashions, that are interesting, and may add up to a bigger shift.

As an example, here is a selection of some of the latest “trends” as brought together by The Future Laboratory, one of the best of many trend curating organisations, more of which below:

Some of my favourite “trend” resources include

Canvas8: one of the most thoughtful agencies around – they work at the intersection of commercial understanding, behavioural sciences and popular culture – to better understand and track human behaviour.

Now and Next: the personal site of Richard Watson, the trend mapper who gave the world those incredible tube-map like analysis of all the trends around, and stuck on many boardroom and project room walls (see below).

Futurism: covers breakthrough technologies and scientific discoveries that will shape humanity’s future. They are particularly strong in technologies such as AI and human interfaces, and the consequences for society.

Through history there have been many wonderful futurists, of different sorts, who have presented us with glimpses of the future. Here’s a great list from Ross Dawson of what some of these outstanding people have got right in their visions of the future:

• How Isaac Asimov shaped robotics and space exploration and predicted the Internet
• How Margaret Atwood tries to prevent dystopian futures by writing about them
• How Ray Bradbury‘s Fahnrenheit 451 foretold the social tensions and technology of today
• The big hits and the misses from Arthur C. Clarke’s eccentric and influential predictions
• How Buckminster Fuller anticipated today’s challenges over 50 years ago
• How William Gibson’s Neuromancer shaped our vision of technology
• How Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto foresaw genetic engineering, bro culture, precision marketing and sex tech
• The predictions of Robert A. Heinlein, from the Cold War to the waterbed
• Ray Kurzweil’s predictions for the future of technology, medicine, and A.I.
• Nikola Tesla and his electrifying predictions
• The uncanny foresight of Alvin and Heidi Toffler from prosumers to same sex marriage
• Uber Eats and 10 other things that John Elfreth Watkins Jr. correctly predicted in 1900
• HG Wells’ spot-on predictions will make you think he really did time travel

And more futurists to check out, including their twitter feeds and websites:

To explore this theme further, you can engage Peter Fisk as a keynote speaker, for consulting workshops, or for executive development. Email peterfisk@peterfisk.com