Change is the law
of life. And those who
look only to the past or present
are certain to miss the future.
— John F. Kennedy,
Speech, June 25, 1963
What was true in the New Frontier era is even more accurate
a half-century later: Change is accelerating and is doing
so in every element of our lives. The challenge is to
manage change; to make it work for us, not overwhelm us.
Often the social, economic, or public policy implications
of technology turn out to be more important than the
technology itself.
Consider the VCR, for example. It
was leading edge technology once, and now it is rapidly
headed for obsolescence. In the process, though, it
changed people's home entertainment options, rewrote the
business models for TV and movies, and set crucial legal
precedents regarding intellectual property. It was much
more than just a "black box."
Those are the issues I follow and write about.
Because "going forward" isn't just a business jargon. It's
the way we must orient our thinking in this modern age.