The future of marketing

The décor for the Future M conference was, appropriately, futuristic. For pictures see, My week at Future M.  And not surprisingly, the theme was the future of marketing.

Here are some main points from the first keynote talk, “Innovation in Technology” by Brian David Johnson, Futurist and Principal Engineer at Intel.

• We can turn anything into a computer
• The question to ask ourselves is NOT, “can we do it,” but “do we want to and why do we want to?”
• The fear of the unknown is a natural human response.
• The view of the future shouldn’t be a “connected home” whose lights, etc. can be controlled by a smartphone, but more “an emotional home,” that is set up so for different emotions. For example:
  • Monday – make us happy so are glad to go back to work
  • Tuesday – make us efficient so we can get our work done
  • Saturday – make us relaxed so we can have a good weekend. I think you get the idea.

Yes, there really is a job title called “futurist.”  The whole time Brian was talking, I kept thinking “what a cool job to have, thinking about the future.”  I wouldn’t even know where to start with a job like that.

It was fascinating to hear Brian speak about new ways to think about technology. We need to use our imagination and not just assume that technology will be an extension of what it is today. Brian stressed the human side of technology. I am still trying to get my mind around that since I still view technology as more machine and not human. Perhaps this is because it is too scary for me to think about technology being “human.” I then continue down the path of thinking that robots and computers will take over the world.

What are your thoughts on technology and the future?

Futuristic picture is from Space Walrus Studios.