Foreword
It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I spend far more time in the digital world than I do in the real one. When I'm not creating digital documents, e-mailing, reading RSS feeds, tweeting, using Facebook, texting, blogging, or listening to podcasts, I'm thinking about the future of all those things. Since my job is all about developing new growth opportunities for a Fortune 500 company, being obscenely connected doesn't seem that strange. Sad? Maybe. But not strange. I am happy to report I am not alone. I take no small comfort in knowing that as I cradle my CrackBerry, thumbing bite-sized musings into the digital ether, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and Barack Obama are doing the same. This is an unusual turn of events for humanity and a bit of an omen.
Much like my friend Nicholas J. Webb, I am both an innovator and author. At heart, I'm a pragmatic futurist. In fact, my forthcoming book is an unconventional look at the U.S. economy over the next 10 years and the innovation opportunities it will create. Not surprisingly, many of these will be digital. Why? Evolution. From the moment our furry ancestors discovered that it's way easier to smash open a coconut with a rock than a claw, we haven't looked back. Each invention–shoes, the wheel, clocks, electricity, assembly lines, cars, and computers made life on earth a little more bearable. These advances made it possible to sustain larger populations, trade globally, and communicate in ways that make the deck of the ...
