In my lifetime, I have witnessed many technologies become obsolete. The video cassette recorder, vinyl records and turntables, telex machines, audio cassettes, floppy disks, mainframes, 35mm film and cameras, analogue cellphones, typewriters, etc. There are even more technologies that are about to be consigned to the annals of history like DVDs, the mouse and keyboard, remote controls, backup tape drives, land lines, the fax machine (almost dead), video cameras, etc. Indeed the PC and laptop are in serious danger of going extinct within just 5 years.

What kind of world shall we find ourselves in within the next fifteen years? According to the McKinsey Global Institute – the business and economics research arm of McKinsey & Company – there are twelve extremely disruptive technologies that will make the world as you know it almost unrecognizable by 2025. Mobile phones, artificial intelligence, the “Internet of Things” (sensors, actuators, networks, etc), cloud technology, advanced robotics, self-driving vehicles, biotechnology, advanced energy storage devices, 3D printing (now there is even “4D Printing”, believe it or not), advanced materials (eg Graphene and Silicene), advanced fossil fuel exploration/extraction and renewable energy.

See you in 2025.