An unprecedented number of women will be in positions of power, Muslim immigration to the West will rise, and office workers will be unchained from their cubicles ― all in the next 40 years, says a consultancy set up by the author of Future Shock.
Toffler Associates has released its predictions for the next 40 years to mark the 40th anniversary of Future Shock, in which author Alvin Toffler studied the 1970s to see what would happen in the future.
Some of the predictions that the consultancy calls the "drivers of change":
- Politics: Just in the next three years, approximately 80 nations will be holding presidential elections. The number of women in national leadership positions will increase at an unprecedented rate. Religious groups will push to get into governments around the world. Private sector actors, NGOs, religious groups, “hyper-empowered” individuals whose resources can exceed those of states, and a wide range of transnational networks – both licit and illicit – will create a radically different future. The most pressing geopolitical threat will not be al Qaeda, but its franchises, the wider network-of-networks spawned by its ideology.
- Technology: Technologies will not be developed in-house. Successful organizations will become adept at integrating large problem-solver networks, linking “answer seekers” with “problem solvers” across the globe to rapidly harness the brainpower of international experts. The world will enter the “Petabyte Age,” where data saturation is the norm.
- Social: Consumers or customers will be the most important source of innovation within organizations. The main driving force for “prosumption” – the unpaid output that we all produce every day – will be the technology-enhanced interaction between employees, suppliers, partners and customers. Communication technologies and social networks will become increasingly influential, deciding factors in product and service offerings. Changes in global religious demography, such as the rapid growth of Christianity in the global South and increased Muslim immigration to Western nations, will shape public attitudes and government policies. Growth in religious believers will have an increased impact, with major policy and security implications around the world.
- Economics: The ability to exploit information across traditional boundaries will be a great boon to developing countries as they come to recognize the importance of knowledge capital. Work will continue to be driven by knowledge.
- Environment: Climate change will influence all industries and sectors of society, in part by affecting the infrastructures on which they rely. A rise in sea levels and the resulting loss of territorial land will cause a conflict from displaced populations around the world.
