Model miscues?
February 13, 2004
http://www.usnews.co...ws/nexthome.htm
James Pethokoukis: next-news@usnews.com
Every Friday, Next News features a chat with a different forward thinker about what tomorrow may bring. Today, our prescient (we hope) prognosticator is Jim Pinto, a technology futurist and investor. Born in India, Pinto is the former CEO of Action Instruments, a company that developed products to monitor industrial machines for such factors as temperature, pressure, and load. Since the company was acquired in 1998, Pinto has worked as an international consultant in strategic business planning, marketing, technology planning, and acquisition strategy.
Next News: What trend(s)—technological, social, economic, business, political— do you see developing over the next 10 to 25 years that the average person today has little awareness of?
Pinto: 1) Wireless connections everywhere—including connection to machines and equipment. This is the "pervasive Internet"; 2) The "connected superpower" individual connected via the Internet, driving events. Like the Dean campaign, which raised $40 million from small contributors. Spontaneous events supporting and protesting major political moves. Democracy is centuries old—invented when people had no direct connection to each other. Now, people vote only every four years and are often dissatisfied with the results. The Internet provides connections between individuals, which can achieve interim results. It will not be politics as usual.
Next News: What kind of computer do you have?
Pinto: Home-networked PCs (several). The network extends throughout my home, plus wireless links.
Next News: What is the most recent electronic device that you have purchased?
Pinto: Digital cameras, Roomba robotic room cleaner.
Next News: What magazines or Web sites do you read that the average person may not have heard of?
Pinto: The Futurist, from the World Future Society. Web sites: The Immortality Institute, KurzweilAI.net.
Next News: What is the last book you read that you gave you some insight into the road ahead?
Pinto: Michael Crichton's "Prey."
Next News: What question would you like to ask another futurist?
Pinto: In your opinion, what is the one primary factor that will have the most influence on the future: technology, religion, social change, economics, war, population growth?
# posted by James M. Pethokoukis at 3:00 PM EST
