Since the dawn of time, man has been on a constant quest to innovate. Advances in science,
technology and mass communications are ensuring we ‘have it all’. Whichever way we look at it –
whether out of necessity or luxury – We are fortunate enough to be living in a time when it seems
that perhaps we do.
Whatever our hearts desire, we can have it at the click of a finger; or rather, a button. We are living
in a more connected world for sure, and innovation is constantly knocking on our doors with ever
more ferocity, giving us the ability to interact, communicate, experience things in more ways than
ever before.
Our lifestyles have changed, along with our desires for what is important to our daily lives. We spend an unacceptably unhealthy time in front of the computer and we are online pretty much at all hours of the day and night, which as recent as ten years ago would have been frowned upon, but which now is pretty much a given. In fact it would raise eyebrows if one wasn’t!
We can sit back and pretty much take care of almost everything that once demanded legwork,
without having to move an inch. We can order our groceries, do our banking, pay our bills and
go shopping without moving from the comfort of our sofas. Why, we even do all our socialising
increasingly online, which is raising some interesting questions about life/work boundaries and how we interact with one another away from the virtual world. So where is all this taking us as a society? Are we really free to do what we want, or have we become slaves to the very technology that is supposed to ‘free’ us?
I am of course touching very lightly on a debate that is raging amongst the intelligentsia. It’s a
profound and relevant subject matter of our times, which warrants credible input from authoritative
individuals. Something I have been meaning to engage in for a while, and which I will invite creative thinkers and respected ‘futurologists’ to contribute to in future editions.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading these next few pages as much as I have from our first
round of contributors, with whom I am pleased to start the ball rolling with some interesting
innovations. Some are already here, whilst others are in advanced stages of research. As Albert
Einstein once said, “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough”.