Imagine 20 years in the future: flying cars, holographic communication, miracle drugs, and a healthy diet in pill form probably come to mind. For the most part, our idea of what’s coming over the horizon is remarkably similar to The Jetsons, a cartoon that premiered in 1962. Most innovations strive to make our lives more efficient. In Silicon Valley, brilliant minds work to create the next wonder apps: Apps that schedule time. Apps that record time. Apps that consume time. The ticking of the clock fascinates us.
For a species that claims to never have enough time, humans sure waste a lot of it. We accrue value by checking items off an ever-lengthening list. We feel more accomplished when our day is full. The many ways we organize — using apps like Asana, Slack, G Suite, Monday, and Trello — have become more burdensome than the actual tasks we tackle. We sit in meetings to discuss meetings. We scroll social media to stave off boredom, watching others showcase their greatest hits, propping up the long con that we can have it all. Time drifts, accelerates, and then violently spins away in a vortex of dreaming for moments that may never come.
What’s the future really going to look like? Read this issue to find out.
