Generational change.
We are living through "a generational change" [see photo]. Here is the thing. This change will be from structure to information. From people to "zeros and ones" [0011000111]. But... Structural rigidity has been demolished over the past 3 years. This demolition is happening slowly but it is happening. A huge contributor to this demolition job is the impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns. The Covid-19 lockdowns had a two-way effect - a sudden collapse of structural effectiveness but also clogging up information flows.
Future historians will write much more about the Covid-19 lockdowns than they will ever write about the actual virus. It turns out the virus was serious but also a sideshow. It was the lockdowns that instigated a wholesale restructuring of human social structures. Work, shopping, schooling, banking, etc had to change during the lockdowns. Thus human habits had to change. Habits are hard to change but when they do so quickly. These new habits saw consumers becoming more and more reliant upon efficient and effective information flows. Working from home is all about information flows. Banking is all about information flows. Shopping is all about information flows.
BUT...
The generational change issue or problem that remains and will do so for the next 30 years. In simple terms that issue is all about access. "Who has the most efficient and effective access to the information flows that consumers will need to live, work, and educate family members from home?" In the short-term employees will be forced to return to the office [even if only for 3/4 days a week] because the structural rigidity of our systems are still an essential part of global supply chains. In the background of this generational change there is a lot of noise which deflects our attention from it. Ukraine war, carbon credit systems, social disorder, excessive government, demise of UK/US/EU collectives, etc. are all background "noise" to the real event which is to move on from structure and embrace information.
The shortfall problem is the overuse of AI automation. Anyone who has had a problem with a service provider, recently, will know that automation is here. They also know that when these new automated systems fail to get the job done then you are trapped and helpless. And we discover that the humans in the system are as powerless as you. To fix even a simple snafu is a big deal for you and the staff. This is happening because the old structure is being automated. However, what the consumer needs is greater access to the information that they need at the time they ask for it. This issue/problem is built-in to the structure and there is no quick fix to it.
The central issue is that the global system is sustaining a march towards centralised power, and wealth, even as the structure continues to crumble. New invention and innovation will come with a raft of decentralised models for information flows. Getting the information to flow to the right point, at the right time, is the next challenge. Access to information is our next challenge. Later the reliability of these information systems will be a new challenge.
Richard.
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