thinkfuture>>

Now many people who watch/listen to my shows understand my philosophy and political leanings. i’m willing to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt on some things – when he mentioned that he was going to do a number of things to foster innovation, such as hold scientific summits in the White House etc, I thought, wow thats cool – maybe finally someone in the White House who understands that its innovation that is the engine of our economy – more than anything. Free markets are the foundation of a true robust economy, but innovation is the driver. The question is now however, why are we throwing billions into propping up industries that are dying due to lack of demand and mis-management, when we coudl be letting those industries die and supporting new ones that grow from the death of the old ones?

When a company goes under, the employees of that company are freed up to do mayn things. Some will go onto the unemployment rolls, some will move into other jobs at other companies, and some will strike out on their own. The people do not cease to exist, they simply do something different. For some, the job has locked them into a pattern which was comfortable, too comfortable to escape. For some, the job loss would unleash the innovation and creativity in their brains, and they could conceivably go off and create the next great product or service. And its those innovators that need to be supported, not the old-line firms which are locking up this creativity.

So I not only ask Obama not to prop up dying industries in order to save us tax money, I also ask Obama to let those people who are innovators in those companies free to innovate, and to support their innovations. Both will cost too much, one looks to the past and one looks to the future, and I think we all know which direction we should be looking in.

wheres is the future of independence day? well, when this country was founded, things were very very different, but the founding principles of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” where the ultimate statement of vision of humanity as being ultimately responsible for its own happiness. The individual, not the state, would determine the course of that individuals life.

My, how times have changed. There is more and more government intervention into our lives. We are basically living under the same, or an even more tyrannical regime than the one we left. And the future of freedom looks bleak: less and lees freedom to speak, and less and less freedom to live ones life as the founders intended it.

Is this a good future or a bad future? On the one hand, people in general have never “felt” more free, but that freedom is a chimera, its not bestowed naturally, but by government. And government can decide to take that freedom away any time it wants. We are now governed not by “the people” but a government. And I don’t see that getting better.

One can argue that the core of humanity, the greed that drives evolution, is an outdated concept. I say it is the core of what makes us great. We need to put systems in place that feed the greed. Systems which assume egalitarianism always always fail.

So with that – we turn to the future. Will Independence Day go away? No, but it will lose its meaning. We need to continue to remind ourselves of why we fought that distant war, and what it really all means. We need to work to keep the system from turning into what we fought against.

Why you ask? What does this have to do with innovation and the future? Plenty. Innovation THRIVES under freedom and is choked under tyranny. Obama promised a new freedom for innovation, for science, for technology, but then turns around and props up old dying industries. Where is the freedom for innovation, Mr. President? Where is the stimulus money for small, innovative startups to invent the next wave of consumer products in order to help jumpstart the economy. Where is the INNOVATION STIMULUS?

Innovation is stimulated by robust free speech and free markets. The less free our speech is and the less free our markets are, the less innovative we will be. I say: unleash the free market, unleash innovation, and things will turn around sooner and opposed to later.

now this is not rocket science. some people say that thinking about the future is very difficult. i think its really easy. of course if you are a fan of science fiction (and admit it, most of us geeks are) that its easy to think about the future. why? well, the future is RIGHT THERE. right in that sf novel, story, tv show or movie you are watching. if its good sf, and believe me there is a TON of crappy sf out there. in good and great sf, you see the future, the real future. and then all you have to do is trace back to today. its like going through a maze backwards. super super easy. so one of the ways in which i invent the future is to consume a lot of good sf, then figure out how the stuff in the book came about. reel it back enough and you can envision the near future.

you’re wondering…what happened to the freedom bunker, or the thinkfuture radio show, or the thinkfuture tv show? well its all still here. just not here. I’ve decided to take back this blog for its original, intended purpose – discussing the future.

the future of what you ask? well, the future of anything and everything. day after day, i live in the future. i attempt to envision that future, both for myself, my colleagues and my clients. so i thought, why not really start talking about the future.

do we need to talk about the past as well? sure, since it is not a myth but a fact that those who ignore history are apt to repeat the greatest mistakes in history. one could argue that that is exactly what is happening now economically, but wait, that’s for another show.

so this blog will be about the future. thinking about the future. envisioning the future. plus we are going to have ton of fun along the way. get ready for the ride.