Book Of The Future

How do we prepare our children for the future? It's the question I am most commonly asked after speeches. And I always give the same answer. I believe there are three critical skills we all need for future success, in our careers and beyond. I call them the Three Cs. The ability to Curate (discover and qualify information), Create (bring new ideas to life or improve and recombine old ones) and Communicate (to sell your self and your ideas). In this episode, Katharine and I address questions like: What is more important, knowledge or skills? How do you teach creativity?Why is scepticism so important now? Read more at https://tomcheesewright.com/future-skills-what-to-learn-and-teach-for-success-in-tomorrows-world/

In this season of the podcast we're going to explore a few big ideas in a bit more depth. These are ideas or theories that keep coming up in my work with global 500 brands and government departments around the world. The first topic is what I have termed 'extended adolescence' - in short, are we now experiencing a longer childhood? The ages at which we cross key (traditional) milestones in adult life have been shunted back by a decade. People now learn to drive, buy a house, find a partner, get married, have kids etc perhaps 10 years later than they did in the relatively recent past. We try to answer:  Why is this happening? Is it a good thing? Should we be expecting young people to grow up faster? Are we babying them? What does this mean for companies/brands? Check out the blog post here for more information:  https://tomcheesewright.com/extended-adolescence/

Tom and Katherine round off the recent episodes with a broad discussion of the Metaverse: what is it? What are the implications? And should we be scared or excited? Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/entering-the-metaverse

John Keefe is one of the founders of Draw and Code, a content studio building immersive entertainment for the world's biggest brands. Tom speaks to John about the evolution of immersive media across augmented and virtual reality, the state of the art in hardware, and how big the coming revolution will be.

Tom talks to fellow futurist and Magic Leap alumnus Cathy Hackl about the Metaverse: the coming together of physical and digital worlds through augmented reality, the internet of things, and more. When is it coming? And what does it mean for brands? Find Cathy Hackl online at https://cathyhackl.com 

Tom speaks to Professor Steven Cleveland, educator and filmmaker about his work on Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's time in Hawaii and the lessons from the past about the future of social equity. Find out more about Steven's project at https://akinginparadise.com/ 

Tom speaks to Steve Sinclair, Senior Vice President of Product and Marketing at Mojo Vision, the company building smart contact lenses for a future of invisible computing. This sci-fi prospect is fast becoming reality, another piece of the puzzle in the next big shift in our relationship with computers. Find out more at https://www.mojo.vision/

Tom highlights the collapse in funding and student numbers in further education in the UK, and Katharine points to the risk of a 'skills timebomb' this presents for the future. Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/further-and-higher-education-the-dividing-line/

Tom and Katharine discuss the G7's moment of harmony, the solution to what Tom calls a 'small world problem'. What does that mean? And what is a 'big world problem'? Find out in this episode of Talk About Tomorrow. Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/small-world-and-big-world-problems

Tom and Katharine talk about the future smart home: transforming furniture, shared energy, and communal living. And about the pitfalls of smart tech, especially when it interacts with pets.  Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/the-future-home-a-smart-green-machine-for-living-in/

Tom argues that the declining trust in media, politicians and experts is down to distance. We are too far from power and too unequal in wealth and education. Katharine brings the data, and connects questions of trust in our employees, our children, and in each other. Read the blog post here: https://tomcheesewright.com/the-trust-gap

Season four of Talk About Tomorrow begins with an introduction to Tom's new co-host, Katharine McNamara, and a story about the gamification of life in both fun and less fun ways. In the first episode of this new format, Katharine questions Tom about digital inclusion and social credit, and coins the phrase 'digital Top Trumps'. Tom says 'you know' a lot in response (he promises this will stop). The story on which this episode is based, replete with links and references is here: https://tomcheesewright.com/all-the-worlds-a-stadium-and-all-the-men-and-women-merely-gamers

Why a return to austerity would be a disaster for the post-COVID economy, and where we should spend some stimulus money. Plus, why relationships are a window on the future. Original posts:  - You can't dig yourself out of a hole: https://tomcheesewright.com/you-cant-dig-yourself-out-of-a-hole/  - Relationships are the future: https://tomcheesewright.com/relationships-are-the-future/ Download the Console Connect report referenced in 'Relationships are the future', "The Interconnected Enterprise": https://info.consoleconnect.com/en-gb/resources/console-connect-interconnected-enterprise-report

For the second interview in a series focused on the future of healthcare sponsored by Sony Professional Solutions Europe, Tom speaks to Dr Rachel Jenner, consultant in paediatric emergency medicine and associate medical director for quality and safety at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Dr Jenner speaks about healthcare through the pandemic and the lessons learned, and about her work with the Violence Reduction Unit, tackling knife crime. Links:  - Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit: https://twitter.com/gm_vru

Tom explores the ethics and etiquette of resurrecting our loved ones as chatbots, following a recent patent filing from Microsoft. Plus, a longer listen about two key technologies that will affect the future: 5G and mixed reality. Original posts:  - https://tomcheesewright.com/digital-life-after-death/  - https://tomcheesewright.com/long-read-5g-and-mixed-reality/

Tom talks to Ludger Philippsen of Sony's European Healthcare practice about the paper they have authored on the future of healthcare. How are organisations in this sector responding to the lessons of lockdown? How is technology transforming the operating environment? And why is it critical to shift their focus from optimisation to adaptation. Read the paper here: https://pro.sony/en_SE/insight/digital-transformation-healthcare-insights/tom-cheesewright-whats-next

Tom explores the sci-fi trope of the brain in the jar. Can we really divorce our minds from our bodies? Plus, replacing the car: how do we tackle all its downsides while keeping its advantages? Original posts:   - The brain in the jar: https://tomcheesewright.com/the-brain-in-the-jar/  - Replacing the car: https://tomcheesewright.com/replacing-the-car/

This week Tom asks what happens to our high streets, companies, and jobs, when half our money is spent online. Plus, disrupting housebuilding: an essay on an alternative model for construction. Original posts:  - https://tomcheesewright.com/when-half-our-money-is-spent-online/  - https://tomcheesewright.com/disrupting-housebuilding/

To be ‘a Jack of all trades’ has been variously a compliment and an insult, and most recently, an attack on expertise. But is it what we need to be? Plus, how to develop a distributed workforce Original posts:  - Jack of all trades: https://tomcheesewright.com/jack-of-all-trades/  - Developing the distributed workforce: https://tomcheesewright.com/developing-the-distributed-workforce/

Laziness motivates us to find better ways to do things. Far from decrying ‘lazy’ home workers, we should be celebrating their instincts. Plus, why it's important to remember that we're still human in an age of digital communication. Original posts: - It's good to be lazy: https://tomcheesewright.com/its-good-to-be-lazy/ - We're still human: https://tomcheesewright.com/were-still-human/