Graeme Codrington's Future of Work – Details, episodes & analysis

On December 4, 2024, the CEO of one of America's largest healthcare insurers was shot dead on the streets of Manhattan. Angry people, living in a world that is filled with inequality and feeling squeezed on every side, will eventually snap. This is not something we want, nor is it a call to arms. But it is a possible future scenario that CEOs of large companies might need to be as careful of their personal security as many politicians currently are.

The antidote is to build future-proof businesses that see doing good as good for business. This isn't just a cute tagline - it is a core pillar of the DNA of a future-proof business.

Our team at TomorrowToday helps organisations to understand what a future-proof DNA looks like, and to identify the drivers of disruptive change taking us into that future. Contact us to discover more about our work:

It could happen. Sometime in the future. Data centres use an incredible amount of electricity and water. Towns that incentivise these data centres to locate nearby for jobs and tax benefits might find themselves dealing with unrealistic demands for power and water - to the point where a data centre could sue the town to continue providing them with water even if it means the people living in the town get cut off.

For more details of just how much power and water data centres use, listen to Paris Marx’s 4 part mini series on the Tech Won’t Save Us Podcast: https://techwontsave.us/episode/241_data_vampires_going_hyperscale_episode_1 

It's September 2082, and we mark the 50th anniversary of the official start of what has become The Great 50-Year Global Drought. Cities have been emptied, country borders changed, wars fought and entire economies gutted... and there seems to be no end in sight. 

This episode of ThrowForward Thursday is based on historical facts. Back in 1177BC, a 300 year drought caused the almost complete collapse of multiple civilisations in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean areas. You can listen to Dan Snow's History Hit podcast, as he interviews Eric Cline, the author of '1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed':  https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-bronze-age-collapse/id1042631089?i=1000664352855 

It's a sobering lesson from the past. It's an alarming possibility for our future. 

Slightly late this week, this is a special edition of ThrowForward Thursday, answering a question sent to us: "Where do you get all your ideas?"

This episode I talk about our team's TIDES model of disruptive change, that helps us decide what to look for. These are the five most disruptive forces we believe are shaping the world, and we are constantly on the lookout for examples of change in these areas.

Next week, we will take a look at WHERE we look, to help you and your team get better at scanning the horizon for yourselves.

This is a longer episode of TFT than normal, but I hope you find it useful and insightful, as you develop your ability to think like a futurist.

Our story starts 20 years, as a fungal infection wiped out the world's frogs. It continues today as we see a resurgence in malaria and other tropical diseases because the frogs are not eating insects. And we realise that this is an all-too-familiar story of how our actions are damaging fragile ecosystems.

We therefore look to the future, hopeful that we can find a way to stop the harm, reverse the damage and restore the environment.

The end of frogs? Let's hope not.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS:
* https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/amphibian-apocalypse-frogs-salamanders-worst-chytrid-fungus
* https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47735823 
* https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/bd-frogs-apocalypse-disease/585862/ 
* https://www.grid.news/story/science/2022/09/23/malaria-cases-surged-in-central-america-after-a-fungal-pandemic-wiped-out-frogs/ 

VIDEO: Throwforward Thursday 71: The End of Water (and three possible solutions)

We all know that the world has a huge problem with water. We don't have enough of it in the places we need it. There are at least three solutions that could change this, and could be available by the middle of this century: we could make water, seed clouds and scale up desalination programs. But each of these solutions has massive problems that need to be solved before they're usable.

However we do it, we will have to ensure we do not reach the end of water. That would be the end of life.

I don't know how far into the future we need to go before we find the end of emails, but in my opinion it can't come soon enough. Emails need to go the same way as faxes, telegrams and telexes. It won't happen with one single replacement solution, but rather with multiple different apps and options that replace the overwhelming inboxes we deal with today.

Why don't you start now to do what you can to reduce emails for your team, your clients and your business?

More people - especially young people - around the world are choosing not to get married, not to have long-term relationships, not to have children, and to have less sex. No, it's not the time of free "drug, sex and rock 'n' roll" anymore.

We are not predicting the actual "end of sex", but possibly a significant shift in sex "as we know it" today, with many opportunities emerging for sex toys, sex aids, sexual health and sexual fulfilment industries.

There's nothing rude or crude in this video, but it might still cause one or two blushes to consider how sex might change in the future. If you're interested in even more insights, a research report from our team at TomorrowToday called The Future of Sex is available at https://www.graemecodrington.com/post/throwforward-thursday-69-the-end-of-sex

This is the final part of my conversation with Easy Equities' Carel Nolte, and we finish our series with a chat about what we can do to improve investing in the next few years. Carel really knows his stuff, and the insights generated from over a million users at Easy Equities means they're probably got the most up to date insights to share.

As always, we also talk about wine, and you'll hear my disappointment in not being able to introduce Carel to a stunning new wine - only because he already knows it, and agrees it is stunning. We both agree that this is a perfect way to end our series: to discover that something we thought was not yet experienced is actually already available. The future is here already.

OK... maybe we stretched the wine and investing analogy just a bit, but I hope you appreciate the insights and enjoy the conversation.

We use sand for pretty much everything we can see around us - including the glass in the screen you're watching this on. And we are running out of sand. This is a bigger issue than you probably realise, and about as important as running out of water will be for our way of life.

More reading and resources:
* https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a39880899/earth-is-running-out-of-sand/
* https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
* https://allusesof.com/nature/25-uses-of-sand/

WATCH:
* https://youtu.be/CcQfkH-7w2k