Dateline: May 21 2034 Since the dawn of the age of truly smart machines, we have seen an explosion of innovation and technological progress on all fronts. AI has democratised intelligence for every would-be inventor, builder and creator. We can do anything we want to... with the help of robots. Let’s face it, humans are inherently a lazy species, which is why we hoarded knowledge and developed tools to make life easier for ourselves and our children. A better world. Civilisation. Prosperity through technology. But there’s a dark side to letting the machines do all the work. We’ve started to let the machines do all the thinking too. Remember when students couldn’t do maths without a calculator, or you couldn’t recall a number without your phone. And no-one can read a map — because we don’t have to. Fair enough, some jobs are impossible to do without the right tools, and computers and robots have allowed us to do things that were impossible, even unimaginable, before they existed. Like making solar panels on the Moon. But we’ve become dependent on them. We’ve outsourced our brain power to smart software and powerful computer chips, robots that have been trained on all human knowledge. Happily. So that we could enjoy all the wonderful benefits of modern technology. Now the true leaders, the owners of the future, are those that can learn — and remember — how to think for themselves. / First published in Mindbullets May 21 2026. We’re all zombies now And giant tech pulls the strings Dateline: February 11 2027 It’s finally beginning to dawn on us that we’ve given up so much of our individual will that we may as well accept that we’re living lives out of our control. We’ve become zombies. For most of us this has been a relatively painless and voluntary process. We were happy to sign on to social platforms and app stores for the obvious value we got for “free”. We might have had some niggling fears, but reading all those Ts & Cs is just not practical, and privacy is relative, isn’t it? Many people just can’t afford real privacy. And it’s so convenient not having to remember passwords or people’s phone numbers and addresses — if the device won’t do it for you, the apps will. And who needs backups when everything you’ve said, texted and photographed is in the cloud? The advantages of becoming part of the system far outweigh sharing your data, surely? Besides, everybody does it. Now it’s so easy to accept Siri’s suggestion for a meal, or Alexa’s recommendation for a book or a movie. Need to get somewhere in a hurry? Google will show you the way to go. The right way. Not your way. Crowd-sourced information is superior, and in mobs we trust. Our smart assistants even rate apps and things like delivery services for us, so we don’t have the hassle of too much choice. And what about brands? We still have our favourites, don’t we? Facebook knows that. And investments — we get the best advice from robo-advisors, for sure. And that’s not an AI service from one of the tech giants, is it? Or is it? OK, I know I found my spouse online, but that was self-directed searching, surely. The dating apps just gave me far more opportunity to meet the right person.A fantastic result. But when Cortana reminds me to follow up on that email promise I made yesterday — which is helpful — I can’t help thinking how “other-directed” our lives have become. It’s true; we’re all zombies now. / First published in Mindbullets February 10 2021. • Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. The Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures and challenge and stimulate strategic thinking.