Get ready for an economic and technological Nantucket sleigh ride*
Canadian writer Douglas Coupland reminds us that the current torrent of change means there’s no going back—at least not to the U.S. middle class tableau of the past 50 years. Goodbye middle class. Rural suburbs. Technology emerging at a digestible pace. Assured economic upswings.
What will the next 10 years look like? This question reminds me of an NSF-sponsored city visioning project, Sustainable Lowell 2020, for which I was hired to write 4 scenarios for the future, ranging from ultra-high-tech to urban homesteading. (More on that later.) (*A Nantucket sleighride, in case you haven’t heard it, was a term used by whalers when their boat was pulled through the waves by a harpooned whale, sometimes for miles, before it tired and could be further hooked and taken to the ship.)
Douglas Coupland’s Guide to the next 10 years
The iconic writer reveals the shape of things to come, with 45 tips for survival and a matching glossary of the new words you’ll need to talk about your messed-up future. 1) It’s going to get worse
No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.
2) The future isn’t going to feel futuristic
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