In looking at transformative periods throughout history, it is apparent that Convergence was a critical driver of change. While I am still hopeful of the ultimate convergence across societal, political, environmental, philosophic, economic, and business domains, it is clear that convergence is already occurring in the science and technology domains. This synergistic relationship where advances in one domain fuels rapid advances in the other is the force behind our rapid pace. As we saw in the Poll that looked at the catalysts that drive convergence, it is this rapid pace of innovation that many believe will ultimately drive it. This initial convergence is altering long-held Beliefs and Intuitions – eventually forcing convergence across the other domains.
I have tried to visually capture this convergence phenomenon in a visual titled Our Emerging Future. A full description of the visual can be found Here. After reviewing the 2019 Trends Report from the Future Today Institute, I added a significant amount of additional innovation accelerators to the science and technology curve. As these accelerators converge, they spawn future scenarios, many of which are captured on the second curve of the full visual.
Building the science and technology curve tells the story:
The story begins with the broad notion of convergence and then focuses on the science and technology domains. Starting with the digital foundation, the curve moves into a distant and unknown future. Along the way, we encounter near-term innovation accelerators and an expanding set of emerging accelerators. The final build is a full view that now includes many science and technology elements captured in the Future Today Institute report. The full visual (click on visual to expand) is complex and highly uncertain, pointing towards a future of increasing pace and perhaps another Tipping Point.
Reimagining the Future 
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