Reading ‘hybrid' tea leaves with Toffler, Jobs and Dylan

The COVID-19 outbreak defined the year gone by. Its aftershocks will continue to shape technology, business, innovation and policy

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Since Alvin Toffler had condensed the concept of “too much change in too short a period of time” into a two-word phrase –‘Future Shock’ – in his 1970 bestseller book bearing the same title, it has been invoked time and again for many aphenomena. These included but are not limited to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Arguably this applies most aptly to the world besieged by the COVID-19 pandemic as it led to a fundamental metamorphosis of the global psyche spanning individuals, enterprises, countries, communities and societies in the year 2020.

Admittedly not a futurologist like Toffler, I would still attempt to make sense of the jumbled tea leaves, each pointing to a different direction. Without any clearly discernible pattern, there are a few likely scenarios even as the mix of flavours instils the much-needed cheer to a weary – teary world waiting with bated breath for the ‘New Normal’ as if the pre-COVID world was really ‘normal’!

Hopefully, the ‘New Normal’ would transcend the promise of vaccine in the ‘New Year’. 2020 was indeed a shocker to show us how little our physical needs are even as the technology optimists and business leaders were also shocked to see the insatiable demand for data notwithstanding the economic downturn.

Let us explore the emerging ‘hybrid’ trends in the technology space.

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