The Future Normal

May 1, 2023
Entrepreneur Bhargava and consultant Coutinho-Mason predict new patterns for work and society in this debut nonfiction work. The future is already here--it just hasn't gone mainstream yet. That's the philosophy undergirding the work of the two authors of this book, who make it their business to know where, in the present, the seeds of the future are already beginning to sprout: "What is happening on the edges of most industries or in society--the technological marvels, the ambitious innovations, the bold social agendas-- hold the potential to become mainstream in the future, to change how we'll live and work and what we'll value," they write in their introduction. Some of these ideas have already filtered into the popular consciousness, even if they haven't become routine for everyone, such as remote work, the medical use of psychedelics, and plant-based meat. Others will likely strike readers as completely novel; in the future, the authors assert, children may get a substantial portion of their education passively by playing video games embedded with stealth learning technology. If one lives alone, they say, one may rely on Siri-like virtual assistants, trained to offer people emotional support and companionship. Large companies, in order to better integrate themselves into the community, may invite nonprofits, local businesses, and artists to share their office space, the authors note, and one's city may be redesigned so that all the places one needs to go daily--work, home, school, parks--are within a 15-minute commute. The new urban center may feature vertical forests--skyscrapers filled with trees and plants to relegate their temperature and muffle noise--and vertical farms, and biotechnology may replace plastic, making products waste-free. This might sound like the stuff of SF, but with each chapter, the authors introduce readers to concepts that make the future seem less dystopian--and right around the corner. This present-is-future philosophy is why Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason jokingly refer to themselves as "now-ists" rather than futurists. Their prose reflects the optimism and enthusiasm they feel for each new idea, as when they discuss the pre-owned clothes marketplace Depop: "Digital secondhand marketplaces also allow people to flaunt their entrepreneurialism as a key source of status too. If eBay is the Goodwill of the digital secondhand fashion world (huge, functional, but unsexy and hard to navigate) then fashion marketplaces like Depop are its younger, more creative, cooler cousin." Chapters generally introduce an emerging trend or technology and then highlight an organization or company that's currently putting it into practice. If there's a knock on Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason's method, it's that they sometimes come across as a bit too rosy in their assessments. For example, the authors choose to focus on how much time that artificial-intelligence technologies can save artists--highlighting a movie trailer that was made in hours instead of weeks--without addressing how that saved time will likely mean a smaller paycheck. In general, however, these now-ists succeed in making the future a little less scary and a lot more exciting. An intriguing and cheerful look at ways that innovation may reshape society.

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