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Think Like a Child: Jeff Han

In my forthcoming book, Jump the Curve, one of the strategies I encourage people to adopt when trying to think about the future is to see the world as they did when they were children. The defining characteristic of that age was, of course, curosity. A perfect example of this is Jeff Han who drew inspiration from the way light diffuses when you touch a glass of water to create something called the “Media Wall.” If you have ever seen the movie The Minority Report you will have an idea of what I am talking about. But rather just imagine it, I’d encourage you to watch the video posted below because it gives us a glimpse into the future world of computing.

Beyond that, however, I would encourage you to ”jump the curve,” and imagine all the different ways this technology will be used in the future.
For instance, imagine brainstorming sessions where groups of people can work on the computer at the same time. Imagine how retailers and marketing professionals could use it to tailor advertisements to individual consumers, or how innovative educational professionals might use the technology to engage students. (For example, chemistry can be a pretty tough subject for the average student, but if a student could actually manipulate giant, simulated models of carbon and oxygen atoms they might gain a better understand how carbon dioxide is formed).

Naysayers will point out that the technology costs about $100,000 today and will argue the technology won’t be available to most teachers. This is true at the current time; but will this technology always be expensive? No. Who amongst us would have imagined that in 2007 most of us would now have more computering power in our $79 cellphone than a 1997 $100,000 supercomputer? Such is the power of Moore’s Law -- and “Media Wall’s” will only become cheaper in the future. (For the time being, though, if you interested in seeing Neiman Marcus’ video advertising the $100K Media Wall just click here. It’s pretty cool.)

My point is that this technology will be coming to stores, schools, businesses and hospitals in your neighborhood sooner rather than later. Therefore, the time to begin thinking about how you and your organization might implement and utilize this technology is now.

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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future trends, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and associations.

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