The Rising Tide of Digital Realities and Their Influence: An In-depth Analysis

Every year or so I want to remind readers of the importance of media literacy, and to caution that both overt and covert influence campaigns are being run continuously through traditional and new media platforms with the intent of altering our perceptions, opinions and ways of thinking.  Our brains are the new battlefield, and it's up to each of us to protect them.

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Emerging on the horizon of our digital landscape are burgeoning alternative realities. They manifest as immersive gaming experiences, virtual and mixed realities, progressive Web 3.0 technologies, and the impending Metaverse worlds. These digital realms offer limitless escapism and engrossing entertainment, often drawing us in willingly, with full awareness of their entrancing allure.

Despite the known addictive qualities of these virtual environments, they are seen as acceptable indulgences. Yet, the focus of today's discussion lies not with these recognized digital realities, but rather with the unanticipated, unseen ones that envelop us.

Skilled influencers, operating in the interest of diverse entities, ranging from politicians to military strategists, employ a well-established set of tools and techniques. Their aim? To subtly alter an individual's perception, thereby constructing an alternative reality within their minds. The most concerning aspect is that the individuals affected often remain oblivious to their manipulated mindset until it's too late.

We've all witnessed the unsettling transformation of once content friends or family members into bitter, irritable individuals, incensed by an incessant diet of contentious political talk shows and hostile editorials. These changes aren't accidental; they are the result of meticulously planned campaigns aimed at reorienting an individual's thinking by submerging them into an alternate reality. This sophisticated strategy, designed to reshape individuals' thought patterns, follows a long-standing blueprint:

1. Pinpoint your target audience.
2. Define your objectives: the ideas, cognitive frameworks, and behaviors you seek to propagate, influence, or modify within your audience.
3. Identify your audience's emotional susceptibilities: these act as the conduit for the introduction of an alternative reality.
4. Recognize demographic groups most susceptible to psychological manipulation, often the socio-economically disadvantaged, elderly, less educated, and minority groups. These individuals often grapple with dissatisfaction, financial insecurity, and disenfranchisement.
5. Harness various communication channels, such as social media, traditional media, and messaging platforms, to synchronize and amplify the key messages appealing to these groups' vulnerabilities and grievances.
6. Amplify and disseminate key messages relentlessly until your target audiences reciprocate the messages.
7. Understand that truths, half-truths, and outright fabrications can all serve to effectively sway an audience's thinking. The crucial aspect is not consistency or credibility, but sheer volume: inundate your audience with an avalanche of correlated messages.
8. Utilize narratives that align with your cause, repeating them frequently to create a defensive barrier against external influences.
9. Center your messaging on elevating the "status" of your audience over other groups.
10. Highlight and amplify your target audiences' grievances.
11. Assign blame for all grievances to educated elites, rival political factions, outsiders, corporations, foreigners, the wealthy, and minorities.
12. Denounce all dissenting voices, views, and opinions as biased, fraudulent, corrupt, and unpatriotic.
13. Secure a popular spokesperson eager to voice your audience’s grievances, unafraid to make the harsh and uncouth statements that others only dare to think.
14. Incite distrust in established institutions, norms, and leaders.
15. Advocate simplistic solutions to complex problems and grievances.
16. Bestow upon your target audiences “secret” insider information and conspiracy theories that make them feel distinctive, intelligent, and valued.
17. Grant your target audience a noble purpose, a mission to champion and defend, offering them a path to status and recognition.
    

This list of nefarious influence techniques exploit an audience's base instincts rather than their better judgement. They tap into biases, prejudices, fears, and insecurities, weaving them into narratives that shift blame onto others while portraying themselves as heroic figures in a grand narrative. These narratives rewire our brains, altering our thought patterns and trapping us in an alternative reality, often without our conscious realization. 

This discussion aims to shed light on the tools, strategies, and techniques employed to craft these alternative realities. By identifying and understanding these mechanisms, we equip ourselves with the knowledge to navigate these digital landscapes with discernment and wisdom.

In this new age of digital realities, it's crucial we remain vigilant of the subtle influences that seek to shape our perception. By doing so, we can guard our minds against unwarranted manipulations, ensuring our engagement with digital realities remains within the realms of informed entertainment and enriching experiences.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

GPT and the Consequences of Knowledge Friction

ChatGPT has democratized knowledge in ways that few innovations outside of the Gutenberg printing press, the internet, and search engines have done.  It not only finds content, but answers our specific questions with formatted explanations and analysis, and remembers our conversations at a later date.  

This month, the new AutoGPT is making headlines.  AutoGPT enables advanced reasoning capabilities and understands context and concepts effectively in a configurable and automated manner.  AutoGPT can provide valuable insights and recommendations, supporting data-driven decision-making and facilitating efficient business processes all automatically.  

 

The automation component of AutoGPT can help reduce knowledge friction caused by the lack of time.  If you don't have the time to study and research important and impactful topics, the lack of time becomes a source of knowledge friction.  Automating the research, analysis, formatting and distribution of knowledge is a powerful feature.

In business, knowledge friction hurts.  It often forces leaders to make decisions based on conjecture, rather than by data-driven decisions. In addition, it can have the following implications:

1. Information asymmetry: When one party in a transaction has more or better information than the other, it can lead to imbalances in bargaining power and market inefficiencies. For example, when sellers with low-quality products can exploit uninformed buyers.

2. Market failures: Knowledge friction can contribute to market failures when information is either scarce or costly to acquire. For instance, consumers might not be aware of the full range of available products or their quality, leading to suboptimal choices. 

3. Barriers to entry: Imperfect information can create barriers to entry for new businesses or innovations. Startups may struggle to convince potential customers of their value proposition or face difficulty acquiring necessary information to compete effectively with established firms.

4. Price discovery: Knowledge friction can impact the process of price discovery in markets, as buyers and sellers may not have complete information about supply and demand conditions. This can result in price volatility, inefficiencies, and the misallocation of resources.

5. Decision-making: In the presence of knowledge friction, individuals and businesses may face difficulties in making informed decisions, leading to suboptimal choices and potentially reduced economic efficiency.

6. Innovation and technology diffusion: Knowledge friction can slow down the dissemination of new ideas, technologies, and best practices, limiting the potential for innovation and technological advancements to drive economic growth.

7. Competitive advantage: Firms that can manage and reduce knowledge friction may gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. This can be achieved by investing in research and development, employing better information management systems, or developing a reputation for transparency and trustworthiness.

Knowledge friction plays a significant role in capitalistic markets by influencing market efficiency, competition, innovation, and decision-making. Reducing knowledge friction can lead to improved market outcomes, but it's important to understand that not every businesses wants to remove knowledge friction.  Some companies have built successful businesses in niche markets that thrive on knowledge friction.  They are unlikely to be as enthusiastic with artificial intelligence as others.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Navigating the Future: Essential Characteristics and Strategies for Leaders

In an ever-changing world filled with uncertainty, business executives often grapple with the responsibility of anticipating and adapting to emerging trends and technologies. In this article I aim to provide guidance on how to focus on the most critical elements in the age of digital transformation, as well as how to cultivate a forward-thinking mindset.

My first piece of advice is to prioritize what matters most. Amidst the noise and distractions, it's crucial to identify the most important factors for your organization. As Donald P. Coduto wisely said, "The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing." Embrace this principle to maintain focus and ensure success.

Understand the game you are competing in.  Understand your competition.  Master the rules of digital transformation. To excel in today's competitive landscape, it's essential to understand the dynamics of the digital age. Key elements to consider include:

• Data as the modern commercial battlefield
• The pursuit of information dominance
• The importance of optimized information logistics systems
• The value of speed, analytics, and operational tempos
• The necessity of real-time operational tempos
• The competitive edge of quick data analysis and action
• The exponential increase in competitive advantages through data-driven strategies
• The benefits of situational awareness in innovation and efficiency
• The growing economic value and innovation opportunities through data collection and analysis
• The diminishing value of data over time and the importance of timely utilization
• The multiplier effect of contextual information and timely delivery
• The emphasis on digital twin capabilities and strategic information use over sheer size

The businesses of tomorrow will compete on decision-making.  To win, decisions must increasingly be automated.  As the world becomes increasingly data-driven, organizations that automate decision-making processes will dominate. Invest in technologies that streamline and enhance these processes to stay ahead of the competition.

Leaders must focus on and cultivate a "futuristic mindset." Rather than attempting to understand every emerging trend and technology, executives should focus on developing the essential characteristics of a forward-thinking mindset. This approach allows leaders to effectively navigate and adapt to the evolving digital landscape.  The following are some of the essential characteristics focus on.

1. Embrace data and AI: Leverage data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) to gain insights, make better decisions, and enhance efficiency.
2. Automate processes: Explore and implement automation to improve your business and customer experience.
3. Capture and codify expertise: Record and digitize human knowledge for use in automation and decision-making.
4. Enhance visibility and information access: Utilize technology to gain better insights, situational awareness, and decision-making capabilities.
5. Adopt digital twins: Use digital twins for remote sensing, action, and scenario simulations.
6. Use networks to innovate: Upgrade your strategies, business models and user experiences as networks enabled new capabilities.
7. Align strategies with technology: Ensure your strategies evolve in tandem with emerging technologies and customer expectations.
8. Understand and navigate time dimensions: Balance human, digital, and future time to optimize performance and prepare for the future.
9. Encourage innovation and adaptability: Foster a culture of innovation and adaptability to maintain a competitive edge.
10. Focus on customer experience: Understand customer interactions and design inspiring journeys for them.
11. Define your purpose: Develop an authentic and inspiring purpose to motivate employees, customers, and stakeholders.
12. Build and engage with ecosystems: Collaborate with partners and stakeholders within your industry ecosystem to create more value.
13. Prioritize learning and adaptability: Continuously learn about and adapt to new technologies and trends.
14. Simplify processes: Reduce complexity to improve agility, speed and innovation.
15. Assess and adapt to future scenarios: Utilize frameworks and models to anticipate future changes and adapt accordingly.
16. Consider generational perspectives: Understand and cater to the different perspectives of each generation.
17. Improve human experiences: Strive to make the workplace and world more fulfilling for human beings.
18. Foster purposeful thinking: Encourage and invest in thoughtful decision-making and innovation within your organization.
19. Establish a unifying doctrine: Develop guiding principles to unify your organization and provide a basis for action.

To wrap things up, leaders must adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape by leveraging emerging technologies and reevaluating their strategies to stay ahead of the competition. Embracing data-driven insights, automation, and AI will be essential for making informed decisions and enhancing customer experiences. Moreover, fostering a culture of innovation, understanding the importance of purpose, and prioritizing human flourishing will ensure that organizations remain resilient in the face of change. By incorporating these 19 key concepts into their strategic approach, leaders can most effectively navigate the complexities of the digital era and harness the potential of future technologies for the benefit of their stakeholders and the broader ecosystem.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Knowledge Friction and GPT

As a futurist, I am always reading with an eye on how the information I am consuming might have an impact on the future.  Last week, my colleague, Ashok Krish, the Global Head of Digital Workforce at TCS, wrote, "Generative AI tools have the potential to provide expert knowledge to employees who may not have specialized training in a specific area."  That got my attention.  Will GPT and other LLM (large language model AI systems) enable many more of us to have access to expert knowledge?  If generalists were soon to have the power of easy and constant access to expert knowledge, how might that change the world?

With that question in mind, I took a deeper dive into understanding the concept of knowledge friction, its impact on businesses, and the steps organizations can take to ensure all their team members have access to expert knowledge via AI tools of all kinds.

Knowledge friction in business refers to the barriers, inefficiencies, or difficulties in accessing, sharing, and using knowledge. In the context of business, knowledge friction can influence market dynamics by creating information asymmetry and affecting competition. In other words, what you don't know can hurt you.  Think about the process of buying a used car from a private party.  If the seller knows there is damage to the vehicle, and the buyer does not - that would be an example of knowledge asymmetry.  

If there is knowledge friction inside a business, and useful knowledge is not available or distributed where it is most needed, that is a major problem.  LLM solutions like GPT have the ability to distribute the accumulated knowledge of the world to just about everyone.  LLM's are not perfect, but they are the best source of the world's knowledge ever known to man.  Any organization that resists access to this knowledge, and purposely creates friction to prevent access to knowledge will soon find themselves at a severe disadvantage.

Reducing knowledge friction and improving access to knowledge through advanced AI systems like GPT can yield several benefits for individual enterprises, including enhanced decision-making, increased efficiency, improved innovation and problem-solving, customized customer experiences, enhanced human capital development, better knowledge sharing and collaboration, reduced costs, better risk management and compliance, and a competitive advantage.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Speed Changes Everything

As a futurist, I often find myself discussing how emerging technologies might impact jobs.  We talk about automation, artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies that are all obvious candidates for human displacement.  We don't, however, think enough about the physics-related notion of speed. 

Speed refers to how much distance can be covered in a unit of time. If a car moves at 3 MPH, the driver can safely look around, take a drink of water, and eat a burger while driving.  However, if the car is moving at 120 MPH, the task of driving requires all of the driver's attention just to keep it under control.  The difference in speed completely changes the nature of the job.

The following is a list of just a few ways people, things, concepts and processes can be changed when speed increases:

1. Faster operational tempos require faster decision-making.  At a certain point humans reach their limit.  At that point processes must be automated and decisions made by algorithms to progress.
2. Speed changes organizational charts. Faster operational tempos require flatter organizational charts and fewer humans in the decision chain.
3. Speed requires faster acting and reacting.  Again, humans have their limits.  At a certain point automation and algorithms must take over to manage the speed of action.
4. Speed mandates continuous  and increased levels of attention and concentration.  Humans tend to quickly lose concentration, which soon becomes a big liability.  Automation will need to take over in a 24x7x365 - always on world.
5. The faster the speed, the more precision is required.  Often this precision can be lost as humans get tired and lose focus.
6. Speed quickly destroys the quality of a human experience.  Even a race car driver must rest, recuperate and be restored before returning to the track.  Continuous speed forces humans out of operational processes.
7. The increasing speed of innovations, invention and transformation makes long-term planning obsolete.
8. The speed of innovation far outpaces government's' ability to study, regulate and monitor it in order to build guardrails and protect their citizens from potential dangers.
9. Speed changes how markets operate.  Instant and automated digital trading based on algorithms can cause huge market swings and unanticipated swarming events and bring instability to the global financial system.  There is no time left in this process for wise industry sages to deliberate and ponder.
10. Speed changes how commerce and e-commerce are conducted.  Consumers want instant information, transactions, confirmations, approvals, feedback, real-time rating, comments, chats YouTube explanations and instant personalization.  Real-time equals automation, as humans cannot operate at digital speeds.
11. Speed changes how sports betting is conducted.  As more information is produced about every competitor, team, event and environment at a faster pace than ever before - the nature of betting changes.  Sensors, digital twins, data analytics, algorithms and speed increasingly becomes a source of advantage for sophisticated gamblers.  The nature of the game has changed.
12. Speed changes how democratic elections must be managed and safeguarded.  Media-reporting on elections based on near-real-time data, projections and speculation across different regions, time zones and methods of voting can create confusion, concern and conflict that interferes rather than promotes democracy.  
13. Speed changes the manner in which styles and cultures evolve.  Influencers can publish media and can instantly change the direction of fashion, create swarming events, or destroy the reputation of other people or things.
14. Speed changes how languages evolve.  Historically, time and distant provided environments where languages evolved slowly in near isolation or with limited outside influence.  Today, with global media broadcasting, and routine travel around the world the trajectory and pace of language evolution is greatly impacted.
15. Speed changes how conversations take place.  From face-to-face often requiring travel, to letters requiring travel and delivery, then phones, to email, texting and then chat, as each of these means of communication changed, so also did the way we format information and present it.  It changes our writing style and habits.

16. 

    Sloths are the definition of anti-speed

    Speed changes relationships - think online dating.  From proximity being a key selection filter to now opening the doors instantly to the world's population, much of what was historically involved with developing a relationship has been impacted by data and speed.
17. Speed changes the nature of conflict, battles and warfare.  In the roman era, leaders estimated that armies could generally move at 20 miles a day.  So armies separated by 60 miles were thought to be 3 days a part.  Three days allowed time to anticipate, prepare for battle or negotiate for peace.  Today, with stealth aircraft, drones, missiles and hypersonic weapons attacks can occur with little to no warning.  There is no time for negotiation, contemplation and conversation.  The nature of conflict has changed as a result of speed.
    

Today, speed is tightly integrated with the notion of digital.  As things becomes digitally enabled, speed transforms it.  This transformation often pushes humans beyond their limits.  They become the friction in a world running at un-human speeds.  A place where only more sophisticated digitally enabled things (i.e., robots, AI, algorithms, automation) can work at this new and future operational tempo.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

GPT-4 for Executives

I feel like a kid with a new bike.  GPT-4 is opening up so many new avenues for discoveries!  In fact, our Future of Business team here at TCS now has weekly trainings and discussions on how GPT-4 works, and how best to use it.  I am just beginning my learning journey, but already some things are clear. GPT-4 has an enormous amount of useful knowledge if you know how to find it.  It's mostly common sense, but here are some helpful things I am recognizing.

1. Learn the right way to ask questions.  The better and more specific your questions are the better the answers.  That seems basic, but asking GPT-4 a list of similar questions will quickly show you which ones work better.
2. Tell GPT-4 who it is before it answers a question, e.g., GPT-4, you are a data scientist, or you are a bioengineering scientist, or you are a fireman.  Giving GPT-4 a personna gives it a POV (point of view) to answer question from a specific perspective.
3. Understand how to frame questions based on logical arguments and frameworks.  
4. The paid subscription version of GPT-4 remembers your previous chats/conversations, so you can go back to a discussion you had last week, and ask GPT-4 to expand on its answers.  It archives your conversations for future reference.
5. GPT-4 is good at finding your knowledge blind spots.  You might think you understand a subject, but you can ask GPT-4 to help you create checklists of things that are often overlooked, or that only experienced experts would know about a subject.  The lists often reveals things not previously considered.  This enables one to fill in the blind spots.
6. You can combine questions and personas to get fascinating answers.  For example, GPT-4 is both a futurist and a fireman writing an essay on the future of firefighting from Jeeps.  What things would be important to a firefighter that drives a Jeep deep into the mountains?  These endless combinations make for stimulating conversations with your family and friends.
7. You can also ask GPT-4 to create a counter argument.  How would those that are opposed to argument #1, counter it?
8. You can also ask GPT-4 to take the persona of your competition.  How might my competition respond if I launched a new product that did xyz in this market?  

Hopefully, your creative juices are flowing and you can see how nearly every position in an organization where decision-making is important could benefit from having their own subscription.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

GPT-4 is Even Better Than You Think

I recently read an article written by four professors from large universities.  The purpose of the article was to convince the reader that GPT-4, and other large language models are not significant or worth our interest.  Were we testing the same LLM system?  I am giddy with the potential!

I am also a veteran futurist with over three decades in the technology industry, and I can confidently say that GPT-4 is the most impressive technology I have seen in my career.  In fact, Bill Gates, calls it the biggest technology leap since 1980.

I am not saying LLMs are perfect, but they are certainly incredible.  I can ask for a list of emerging technologies and trends in a particular industry and it will produce a comprehensive list comparable to my own manually researched list.  I can ask GPT-4 to find trends most analysts have missed.  It will competently generate a list of little known developments, and then describe their potential impact on an industry.  I am amazed.  

I asked GPT-4 to consider the convergence of a half dozen different scientific and technological innovations on the food industry.  It wrote an essay on how the combination of those innovations would influence the future of food.  As a veteran futurist I read the essay and learned.  The content was clever, insightful and rational.  No human I know can produce that level of insight and analysis so fast.

I recently had a call with a friend in the technology field that tried to convince me that LLMs and GPT were not impressive.  He explained there were better technologies being developed by others.  OK, but the GPT-4 I am testing daily is rocking my world.  I will celebrate each new start-up that produces something better, but for now I am seeing the future and it is in my hands.

One of the biggest discoveries I have made since I started using GPT daily is the amazing amounts of creative juices that are spilling out of my brain.  Each new response that GPT generates expands my curiosity.  One response leads to another question, more curiosity, and new paths of discovery.  

If GPT has this impact on millions of users, it will be an amazing experience of community learning and education.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Our Future and Media Literacy

In my work as a futurist, everything I read lately seems to suggest a need to become more "media literate". What is media literacy?  ChatGPT describes it as follows, "Media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. It involves a set of critical thinking skills that enable individuals to navigate the complex and rapidly evolving media landscape, identify credible sources of information, and make informed decisions about what to consume and how to interpret media messages."

Just this week, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, acknowledged under oath, that his news commentators endorsed many falsehoods knowingly to keep their audiences happy and agitated.  Tens of millions of people were influenced by these false accusations - a siren call for media literacy.  

AI generated version of me

Our future will include tsunamis of falsehoods from not only our own internal sources, but from our enemies'.  All of us are going to be exposed to information purpose-built to make us fight with each other. We will be presented with fake images (see AI generated of me), fake video, fake audio, fake articles, etc., designed to create confusion and agitation. It is critical that we understand how to analyze information and see through these tactics, strategies and attacks.

Organizations have collected over 5,000 pieces of personal and behavioral data on many of us.  This information is now being used to personalize mind attacks on individuals. This information was collected from mobile applications, e-commerce sites, social media and psychographic profiles and other places.  We are now being led on a journey of long-term mind-manipulation, often without us even realizing it.  Read much more on how this is being done on my blog here.

This isn't a secret.  There are no hidden conspiracies here.  It's all very public.  We must be media literate enough to recognize how all sides are engaging in it, so we don't become the victim of it.  

Let's not, however, interpret these influence campaigns as business or politics as usual.  This is not normal.  Artificial intelligence, social networks and massive quantities of personal and behavioral data on each of us means that mind-manipulation campaigns can be personalized for everyone based on our age, backgrounds, ethnicities, incomes, culture, education level, careers, religion, philosophy, lifestyle, etc.  They know us by our social media photos.  They know us by our online activities.  They know us from hundreds of data breaches around the world.

All of this information has been consolidated in the hands of organizations with nefarious intent.  Many sell this collected information to the highest bidder, which can often be nation states that are unfriendly to us.  This purchased information is then used in campaigns to change the way entire nations think and vote - one individual at a time.  

Is it any wonder that our social cohesion is stressed?  Is it any wonder our politics are increasingly divisive?  Do you sometimes wonder why there are so many heated political arguments between family members?  Is it any wonder that race relations seem to be getting worse, not better?  None of this is an accident.  Russia has a long and well documented history of using information operations against their opponents.

It's both the intended and unintended consequences of our fondness for technology, and our human desire for connection, community and love.  Our desires have made us vulnerable. Our desires can easily be exploited by organizations determined to use our vulnerabilities to influence our thinking.  What's different this time is that organizations now have direct access to our brains through our media and social media consumption.

The strength and fortitude of a nation is often measured by its social cohesion - the degree to which they are unified around shared ideals and vision?  It is these very ideals and vision where enemies seek to create disunity.  Here is more from ChatGPT, "Social cohesion and political stability are important factors for any country's security and resilience. Therefore, it is in the interest of any country to address its internal divisions and work towards greater unity, not only to defend against external threats but also to build a more prosperous and harmonious society."  Is your country coming together and becoming a more harmonious society?  If not, why not? 

This week, the New York Times contained an opinion piece that clearly articulated the strategies an opponent would employ to make us weak.  "Over the past two decades, China has built formidable political warfare and cyber warfare capabilities designed to penetrate, manipulate and disrupt the United States and allied governments, media organizations, businesses and civil society. If war were to break out, China can be expected to use this to disrupt communications and spread fake news and other disinformation. The aim would be to foster confusion, division and distrust and hinder decision making." 

 

We must all recognize the world we live in today.  The world's battlegrounds today are just as often in our own minds as on a battlefield.  Our enemies are purposely messing up our logic, thinking and increasingly our holiday dinners.  

All of us should do our part to be attentive, aware and media literate.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mindsets, Skills and Human-AI Pairing

Digital Mindset

This article was created in collaboration with ChatGPT, Dall-e, and myself.

As organizations continue to undergo digital transformation, leaders must adapt to new challenges and opportunities. Here are some essential mindset attributes that leaders need today:

• Agility: In the rapidly changing digital landscape, leaders must be agile and able to pivot quickly to keep up with market demands and emerging technologies.
• Customer-centricity: A customer-centric mindset is crucial in today's digital world. Leaders must understand their customers' needs and preferences and use digital tools to create a seamless customer experience.
• Growth mindset: Leaders must have a growth mindset and be willing to learn and experiment. They must be open to new ideas and technologies and willing to take risks to drive innovation.
• Collaboration: Digital transformation requires collaboration across teams and departments. Leaders must foster a culture of collaboration and encourage cross-functional teams to work together.
• Data-driven decision-making: Data is at the heart of digital transformation. Leaders must be comfortable with data and use it to make informed decisions and drive business outcomes.
• Digital fluency: Leaders must be digitally fluent and have a good understanding of emerging technologies. They must stay up to date with the latest trends and be able to identify opportunities for their organization.
• Empathy: In the digital age, leaders must also have empathy and emotional intelligence. They must be able to connect with their employees and understand their needs and concerns, especially in remote and hybrid work environments.

By adopting these essential mindset attributes, leaders can help their organizations navigate the complex digital landscape and achieve long-term success.

While leaders possess various skills that enable them to drive their organizations to success, there are several skills that are crucial to succeed in the future that are not adequately present among leaders today. Some of these skills include:

• Digital Literacy: The digital age is here, and leaders who are not tech-savvy may find it challenging to navigate the complexities of digital transformation. Leaders must develop digital literacy and be familiar with emerging technologies that are driving innovation and transforming industries.
• Cultural Intelligence: With globalization, leaders need to have cultural intelligence to understand the diverse cultures that exist across the world. Leaders who have cultural intelligence can successfully collaborate across borders, understand customers' needs in different countries, and effectively lead teams from different backgrounds.
• Creativity: In the future, leaders who can think creatively and find innovative solutions to complex challenges will have a competitive advantage. Leaders who possess creativity and have the ability to ideate, brainstorm and iterate will drive innovation in their organizations.
• Emotional Intelligence: In the future, leaders who can empathize and connect with their employees will be more successful. Leaders who possess emotional intelligence can build trust, create a culture of collaboration, and motivate their teams to achieve their goals.
• Adaptability: With the rate of change increasing in the world, leaders must be adaptable and willing to change course quickly to stay ahead of the competition. Leaders who are adaptable can pivot and transform their organizations in the face of unexpected changes, such as economic downturns, technological advancements or pandemics.

By developing these skills, leaders can prepare themselves for the future, navigate the complexities of the ever-evolving business environment and drive success in their organizations.

As we move forward into an increasingly digital and fast-paced world, there are several new skills that leaders will need to master over the next 5 years. These skills include:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Skills: Leaders need to be able to understand and utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve business operations, automate processes, and create new products and services.
• Cybersecurity Skills: As the number of cyber threats continues to rise, leaders must understand cybersecurity best practices and implement them to protect their organization's data, systems, and networks.
• Sustainability Skills: With the increasing focus on sustainability and reducing carbon footprints, leaders must have the skills to design and implement sustainable practices in their organizations.
• Remote Work and Collaboration Skills: As remote work becomes more common, leaders must be able to manage remote teams effectively and use digital tools to collaborate with employees and stakeholders.
• Creativity and Innovation Skills: The future will require leaders to think creatively and innovatively to develop new solutions to complex problems and create new products and services.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Skills: Leaders must develop skills to lead diverse teams and foster an inclusive workplace. They must also understand the importance of equity in the workplace and create policies and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all employees.
• Agile and Lean Methodologies: The future will require leaders to implement agile and lean methodologies to enable their organizations to pivot and adapt to changes quickly.

By developing these skills, leaders can stay ahead of the curve and help their organizations succeed in the ever-changing business landscape of the future.

As the business landscape evolves, several new and lesser known skills will become more important:

• Data Storytelling: As data becomes more prevalent in decision-making, leaders who can effectively communicate data insights through storytelling will have a competitive advantage.
• Design Thinking: Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that focuses on empathy, creativity, and iteration. Leaders who can implement design thinking in their organizations can generate new and innovative solutions to complex problems.
• Cognitive Flexibility: Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch between different ways of thinking and adapt to new situations quickly. Leaders who possess cognitive flexibility can pivot and change course easily in response to unexpected changes.
• Digital Ethics: As the use of technology continues to increase, leaders must understand the ethical implications of their actions and the impact of technology on society. Leaders who prioritize digital ethics can build trust with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
• Psychological Safety: Psychological safety is the belief that one can speak up without fear of retaliation or negative consequences. Leaders who prioritize psychological safety can create a culture of open communication and collaboration, leading to improved performance and employee satisfaction.
• Network and Ecosystem Building: Leaders who can build and maintain relationships across industries, organizations, and geographies can leverage these connections to drive innovation and create new opportunities for their organizations.

By developing these lesser-known skills, leaders can differentiate themselves from the competition and better position their organizations for success in the future.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Amazing Potential of a ChatGPT and Human Pairing

I have been having all kinds of fun with OpenAI's Dall-e for art, and ChatGPT for answers, research, testing and jokes.  Let's talk about ChatGPT and jokes.  It is not very good at writing funny jokes.  It has an academic understanding of what jokes are, but it finds it difficult to deliver them.  Out of hundreds of attempts, here are a few of the best jokes ChatGPT could come up with:

• Why did the Luddite start using social media? So he could complain about it. 
• Why did the bioengineer create a new species of bacteria that can glow in the dark? To shed some light on the subject.
• When asked what he was working on the bioengineer answered, “I could tell you, but then I'd have to genetically modify you."
• How many Luddite farmers does it take to change a light bulb? None, they prefer candles.
• What do you get when you cross a Luddite with a Time Machine?  A trip to the past no one wanted. 

Here's the thing with the above jokes - they almost worked.  I had to tweak them just a bit to get them to work.  ChatGPT puts most of the right words together, but not necessarily in the right order to surprise and create humor.  ChatGPT is, however, a great idea generator, and generating ideas is immensely valuable.

I have found that if you ask ChatGPT to write some generic jokes it fails.  If you tell it to write some jokes with a combination of interesting characters such as a bioengineers, Luddites and a priest, you start getting material with some great ideas.  Again, ChatGPT mostly fails to be funny, but it's attempts provides some good material to get your creative juices flowing.

I have come away impressed with Dall-e and with ChatGPT.  They both make great human/AI pairings.  They help me produce better content, faster. 

I am now regularly producing humor from ideas generated by ChatGPT, and the illustrations generated by Dall-e.  Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict, or follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram@futurist_humor to see them.

It is clear to me that ChatGPT, and other AI platforms using large language models, can offer incredible value to most knowledge workers.  

I met with an engineer friend of mine last week, and he asked ChatGPT what it knew about some bleeding edge engineering topics. It produced an accurate summary, and he was impressed.  It could have written an executive summary for him.

I encourage you to test it.  Learn where it is strong, and where it is weak.  Use it.  Your competition will be. 

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

How AI will Guide Future M&A Deals with Expert Adam Boostrom

In this episode, author and TCS Strategic Foresight Consultant, Adam Boostrom, walks us through the role AI will soon play in finding M&A matches. We discuss the current process for finding quality M&A candidates and the challenges of making them successful.  We then explore how fast growing AI and machine learning technologies could make that process far more efficient and data-driven in the future.

Download the full report here.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Digital Twins and Instantaneous Decision-making

The reality of information is entirely contained in the speed of its dissemination. ~ Paul Virilio

Even the best data has a shelf life.  Its value diminishes quickly with the passing of time.  In a world of moving customers, employees, vehicles, subcontractors, materials, suppliers, etc., knowing what is happening at a precise time is critical for decision-making, scheduling and planning.  If some information is 90 minutes old, other information is 45 minutes old, and still other information is available in real-time - you are going to have a real challenge integrating that information and forming an accurate and clear picture of reality at a particular moment!

Optimal efficiency and accuracy in the scenario above can only be achieved when the speed of information collection and dissemination is coordinated and in near real-time.  This means having networks and sensors in place to capture data, and integrating it to present an accurate digital twin of reality - in real-time.

For many industries the quality of their information logistics systems, the speed at which decision-making occurs, and the immediacy of actions taken form the new competitive playing field.  In history, many of the greatest battles were won or lost based on the accuracy and timeliness of the information used to decide how best to maneuver armies, navies and air forces.  Enterprises today are in a similar position.

Legacy IT systems that are incapable of supporting a real-time information capturing, transmitting, processing, analyzing, decision-making and acting environment will not survive long in the future.

In the past, long-term planning was the ticket to success.  As the tempo of business increases, short-term planning becomes increasingly important.  Today, nothing short of real-time is good enough to compete in a hyper-competitive global market, and increasingly the ability to project oneself into the future and to start making decisions today about what is seen in the future is necessary.

Today the efficient and real-time coordination of multiple moving parts is mandatory.  That means sensor technologies have become an absolute requirement on the front-end, and IT systems that can support real-time and future time on the back-end.  

What needs to change in your organization to support real-time planning, real-time decision-making, and acting on it?  Real-time decision-making in complex environments today requires AI and automation.  More on that soon...

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Doing Digital, An Interview with Author Ved Sen

In this episode, we discuss the new book, “Doing Digital, The Guide to Digital for Non-Technical Leaders” with author and expert Ved Sen.  I have known Ved for many years and he is a powerful and compelling communicator and insightful advisor to leaders globally.  We take a deep dive into why smartphones are the remote control for the world, we learn why it is important for leaders to understand, “presence,” and why it is critical to consider rapidly evolving interfaces and the notion of living in a network.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Best Future Focused Interviews of 2022

2022 has been a great year for insightful guests and interviews.  I have enjoyed every guest we interviewed for FOBtv.  Some even took us deep into the future and left us hungry for more.  I hope you enjoy the following selections as much as I did.

• What Do You Believe about the Future with Futurist Gerd Leonhard
• How Humans Learned to See the Future with Futurist Byron Reese
• The Past, Present and Future of the Digital Workplace with Expert Ashok Krish
• 2020 Revisited with Cornell Tech’s Greg Morrisett 
• The Future of Income, Careers and Human Potential with Alex Whittington
• Winning the Right Game - Ecosystem Business Strategies with Dr. Ron Adner
• The Future of Climate Risk with Expert Steve Bennett
• The Future of Safety with Expert Christoffer Malm
• Understanding the Future and How to Prepare with David Espindola
• The Future of Eldercare with Expert Ved Sen

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The 45 Worst or Best Futurist Jokes of 2022

To save you the time of reading through large numbers of good jokes about the future in order to find the bad ones, I have done it for you. However, after some more thought and depending on your sense of humor, the worst might also be the best.  Enjoy!

1. I am working on a few jokes about the future of humans in the workforce, but none of them seem to work.
2. Country music bands are already singing about how their autonomous self driving pickup trucks will leave them in the future.
3. I recently advised a CEO to fire all employees who were mimes, and then to replace them with people who could think outside the box.
4. The past, the present and the future walk into a bar - just not, of course, at the same time.
5. Meanwhile in agriculture, the new trend is for farmers to feed cannabis to beef cows - it’s risky, but potentially lucrative and the steaks are high.
6. How many futurist does it take to change a light bulb?  It depends on the scenario.
7. This year’s report on the future of the textile industry finds the adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence looming.
8. Why have generations of futurists been so interested in studying immortality?  It just never gets old.
9. I was looking forward to what the future would bring, but as it turns out Amazon already delivered it.
10. Since the future goes on for infinity, universities have decided not to offer it any longer.  
11. The future is only a step away from the present.  So watch your Christmas gifts closely.
12. The future is in agriculture said a young college graduate, but I can’t decide which field to go into.
13. What does a procrastinator and a futurist have in common?  They both will study tomorrow.  
14.  Futurists and people with obnoxious neighbors both like a good hedge.
15. 
    I read a report on the future of anti-gravity, it’s impossible to put down.
16. Futurists forecast that despite the higher cost of living, it will remain popular.
17. I went to a futurist conference today and the sign on the door said come back tomorrow.
18. A futurist made a bold prediction about the future of dogs in the workplace, but he worried it would come back to bite him.
19. “Where’s the best place to invest in the future of eldercare?” A businessman asked.  “Depends,” answered the Futurist.
20. The future of mind control is not what you think.  It’s what I think.  Repeat after me…
21.  I am using a bunch of different data sources to research the future of plumbing, but none of it seems to be in sink.
22. I was going to write a report on the future of carpentry, but I’m no sure it woodwork.
23. A nostalgic futurist can’t wait for the past to get here.
    
24. In the future robots are anticipated to suffer from isolation and loneliness as a result of singularity.
25. I’m not worried that robots will take over all of our jobs said the futurist.  That’s for a different robot to worry about.
26. What do you call a robot who becomes an evangelist?  An electrical converter.
27. What happens when a robot explodes?  They rest in pieces.
28. What does a futurist call falling down on the job?  A business trip.
29. I have been forecasting rapid growth in the drone industry for a decade, but it just never seems to take off.
30. I was writing a case study about a futuristic company in the paper industry, but it folded.
31. I was working on a report about the future of glass, but its findings weren’t clear. 
32. What do you call a company that bleeds cash?  Theranos 
33. How strong does a whiskey have to be to last generations?  Future proof.
34. The most popular means of getting from point A to point B among Silicon Valley startups is via a hype cycle.

35. 

    Have you herd the moos?

    Three unmanned self-driving cars met in a parking lot.  The lead car says, “Next, we remove the women and children.”
36. Father Time and Mother Nature met with a marriage counselor to discuss their evolving relationship.
37. The phrase, “Live like there’s no tomorrow,” sounds like, “You’re unemployed,” to a futurists.
38. When asked about the future of glass coffins, the futurist answered it remains to be seen.
39. A Digital Twin might look like you, but it comes from a different motherboard.
40. Stop worrying about the future! Nobody has ever died there.  
    
41. A futurists’ annual predictions go in one year and out the other.
42. When a futurist forecasted the end of air conditioners, thousands of fans applauded.
43. The future of the TV remote controller is in question after it once again went missing.
44. Beef cows should be more involved in making important decisions about their future.  They are literally steak-holders.
45. The future of frisbees looks dire, but boomerangs are making a comeback.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

My Top 10 Articles on the Future in 2022

In the course of my work as a futurist I interview many authors, experts, leaders and other futurists, and in between I research, speak at events, record podcasts and publish articles.  I spent some time this week reviewing the articles I wrote in 2022, and selecting some of the better ones for your reference and pondering.

• Starting at the Finish Line
• Giving Our Own Moral Codes to Robots
• The Inevitable Minimization of Human Decision-Making
• Time Passes on a One-Way Street
• The Future of Speed, Time and Consequences
• The Loss of Distance and Justification to Worry
• The Cultural Trait that Changed the World
• The Future of Our Human Experience
• Preparing for the Future: Operating in Three Time Dimensions

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

View my profile on LinkedIn

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

2020 Revisited with Cornell Tech’s Greg Morrisett

In 2020, with Covid raging and universities facing unprecedented challenges, I interviewed Greg Morrisett the Dean and Vice Provost at Cornell Tech.  We talked about the challenges of operating a university during the pandemic, how professors and students were impacted, and the role of technology in making the new normal possible.  In this episode, we get back together over 2 years later to check-in.  We review our comments in 2020 to learn if they hold true and update our views on the future of higher education.

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Kevin Benedict

Partner | Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.