Category: Futurist

  • Fleeing the Emerald City, a Microfiction

    What happens when you sign up for a hi-tech digital behavior modification program to get healthy, but you don’t much enjoy the experience? I’ve been experimenting with microfictions, short SF stories (1,000 words or less) that help me explore and illustrate aspects of how our lives might evolve within digital transformation. Here, then, is another microfiction.…

  • 20 Years of Innovation!

    This week, I share a new infographic tracking two decades of transformational companies and products. Plus, “13 Ways of Looking at Las Vegas.” (Issue #101) I had a ball leading StoryTech tours of the show floor at CES in Las Vegas last week. This year’s distinct theme was AI. My favorite exhibit was Timekettle from China: it’s one of…

  • Dueling Intelligences

    How realistic is the idea that flesh and blood actors will soon find themselves performing alongside long-dead movie stars? Image created by DALL-E. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called “The Only Living Boy,” about an actor, Tom, who is the only flesh and blood performer…

  • Filtered, a Microfiction

    If you never had to deal with your partner’s annoying verbal tics because your AI could just edit them out, would you do it? Image created with ChatGPT. Hearing his wife Cynthia say the word “Sweetie” tightened the corners of Phil’s mouth into a sour grimace. He hated it, and it was Cynthia’s chief way…

  • Tribal Shopping

    How realistic is the idea that economic incentives will coax people to choose a single digital ecosystem? (Image created with Adobe Firefly.) Writing near future science fiction lets me exaggerate a handful of features of life today to see what life tomorrow might look like. When I put these exaggerations into a story, it makes…

  • Bubbles

    What happens when economic incentives coax people to choose a single digital ecosystem?  I’m trying something experimental this issue: a microfiction, short Sci Fi story (under 1,000 words) to illustrate something about how our lives might evolve within digital transformation. Please take a look and let me know what you think. (FYI: the “bubbles” of…

  • What Will an AI Hardware Device Look Like?

    Sam Altman, Jony Ive, and Masayoshi Son have announced a new “iPhone of Artificial Intelligence,” but what will such a device actually look like? Late in September, breathless stories hit about a new “iPhone of Artificial Intelligence” hardware device collaboration among Sam Altman (OpenAI’s CEO), Sir Jony Ive (the guy who designed the iPhone), and…

  • AI and the Productivity Lie

    Think twice about the pervasive idea that Generative AI is going to make you more productive. A look back on how email transformed our lives gives a hint about what’s coming with Gen AI. A notion that pops up in many conversations about the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI)—particularly Generative AI (Gen AI)—is that this…

  • Amazon, AI, and Ads on Prime Video

    The trillion dollar ecommerce giant is adding ads to its Prime Video streaming service because everybody else is, but the secret story is about Amazon’s growing AI capabilities.  On September 22, Amazon announced that it would follow Netflix, Max, and Disney+ and start running ads on Amazon Prime Video. Ad averse Prime subscribers can cough…

  • What’s Next for Apple and Amazon?

    The world’s most valuable company won’t buy Disney anytime soon, but there’s a giant caveat. Plus, what else will the ecommerce giant do with Amazon One, its new biometric payment platform? Being a futurist can be glum when other writers breathlessly announce new-to-them ideas that I’ve been talking about for years while missing the broader…