@dkbooks #thechildrensbookofthefuture

Retirment isn’t going quite to plan. But after July I hope to focus on my books, especially another one for kids. That’s not quite retired either, but you’ve got to do something right?

About 20 years ago I had a conversation with the Marketing Director of a tobacco company in Asia Pacific. I was trying to sell him on the idea of creating some scenarios for the future of the industry.  He liked the idea and ran it up the chain of command. The response from above was “no point, there’s only one future scenario” (that the industry would disappear, and nobody would smoke). This was before the widespread introduction of e-cigarettes and vaping. But my mind at the time was somewhere else – and to some extent still is. The question for me then – as it now – is why do people smoke? I still don’t know, because the project never materialised, but my suspicion is it’s initially to do with rebellion and then perhaps relaxation or anxiety. If this were to be true then one might want to look at the deep drivers of rebellion, relaxation and especially anxiety. If, for example, there was a broader scenario where people were more anxious, this might drive a renaissance of smoking (dependent upon availability and legal restrictions). My serious point here is never to say never. People get the future wrong for numerous reasons, but one of the key reasons is extrapolating from current trends, which often bend or change direction given enough time.

Not bad from 1947, a year before Orwell published 1984 with his telescreens.

Mark my words, there’s something going on here. People are tired of living in the world we’ve created. One where human contact is being removed by technology and where evil is repeatedly triumphing over good.

After 40 years of working and what I think might be 18 years of talking on stage about the future I’m done. No more futures. I did a talk this morning in the City of London and existed stage left (I’d like to think Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odean in 1973, but his persona was far more alluring and he did it with far more style).

I do have a new book for children coming out in May/June next year that will require some support, but beyond that that’s all folks. I will continue writing – but not about the future – and might do the odd talk about other things. Beyond that I plan to spend my days looking out various windows pondering the nature of human existence.

Thank you and goodnight.

Made by Matt, who has been looking after this blog since 2004!

https://www.brightpips.com/books/space/

For years I’ve been thinking about organising drinks for a group of people interested in the future. I did it once at Imperial College, which was a disaster. The mindset of some people at Imperial was that the drinks had to have an ROI – a measurable result. Yup, you spend £200 and it has to be justified with an immediate outcome.

I remember arguing about this a bit and thought I’d won. I hadn’t. I showed up to a room above the Polish Club in Exhibition Road and there were whiteboards, Posit notes and pens.
I assumed another event had run late, but no. The idea was to ask people what they wanted to discuss and cluster like-minded individuals around the whiteboards. I wondered, is this how these people organise their dinner parties? Does a lamb kebab require an ROI?

I got a bit drunk. So did a professor of computing, who at the top of his voice declared “Richard, we are now friends, that’s the fucking outcome:”

Anyway, I’m foolish enough to try this a second time. All I need is a date and most importantly a venue. I think a nice pub in the backwaters of Belgravia, near Victoria Station.

Watch this space…