Can you predict the future?
Today as I was discussing the implementation of oauth 2.0 protocol for user management with my team, it just struck me that a few years back I had spoken about identity management on cloud and oauth being one of the emerging protocols. In the same talk, while discussing the security being one of the prime concerns for cloud adoption, we had concluded the discussion saying that the cloud is ready for adoption, but, for non-mission critical applications. Now that many organizations including mine host the production environment on AWS, that prediction also has come true.
This made me think about if the emerging trends and the buzz around them really become reality. To my surprise, I could think of many such examples. As a student, I had given a seminar on telepresence technology way back around 2000. Did I think that this technology would really become a reality when I spoke about it? I had no idea. Then, a few years back, I addressed the customers in Singapore sitting in Bangalore via telepresence! Also, when I watched science fiction movies as a kid, I used to be fascinated by the video conferencing in those. Now, most part of my work is done via Webex or Skype.
General trends are usually being shaped by the collective intelligence and they turn out to be mostly true. A popular example of this was seen in the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". When audience members are polled for answers during the show, they are correct 91 percent of the time! So, the next time when you hear the buzz about IoT or the next generation artificial intelligence, don't ignore it. It is here to stay. It's wise to have your ears to the ground and get your skills honed to ride on the next wave. I wouldn't rule out a colony in a habitable planet in a distant galaxy or even the time travel!
PS: Thanks to Pushpita for suggesting this title.
Yes Human thoughts,feelings and imagination is really powerful.That's exactly how we shape future. Great Observation.
It's the human imagination that drives innovation and that innovation eventually leads to reality. This cycle is behind every single technology that we see today. Just the imagination of a "Virtual Machine" led to totally different programming, design, deployment and technology paradigms. In the recent days, we see 'containerization' leading to likes of Dockers, Mesos etc. Therefore, I want to focus on imagination. Long back in 1993 when I was doing my Comp Sc, I had presented a paper at CSI on 'computer aided mold production'....that concept, today is evolved into 3D printing and people are 3D printing even cars. Yes, you can predict the future. Future is an extrapolation of current imagination. Some take longer and some take relatively small time to become reality.
Well, if you look at it, most of the "hi-tech" today did feature in one or the other Bond movies!! (or a Minority Report etc.) The key difficulty would be in identifying which is a trend, and which is a fad when it is nascent. And to predict which way things would evolve. For example, 3D printing has been a buzz for a while, but no signs of it taking off on the consumer side. On the other hand, it has achieved significant traction in Industrials. Similarly, there was a Palm Pilot long long before Apple entered into the market with the iPhones :) Getting the Technology and the form factor and the user base all right together is what makes a Winner !
Very nice article Smitha. It is true. We can never predict what would click. It was just a couple of years ago that ERP software met with a lot of resistance for cloud adoption. Today, the scenario has completed changed. The world is moving fast and we need to cope up with these rapid changes.