As part of the ORT SA Career Hub, Arthur Goldstuck gave an insightful talk on the trends shaping business and society today.
Arthur Goldstuck is an internationally acclaimed journalist, author and media analyst as well as ORT IT Ambassador.
He took listeners on a journey through the history of technological innovation, to find valuable lessons we can apply to the future today.
Story of the Roaring 20s
He began by outlining the story of the “Roaring Twenties”.
The first world war had just ended, and the world was finally recovering from the devastation of the Spanish Flu.
The world seemed to “go mad” in celebration.
It was a period of intense transformation that led to immense cultural shifts like the rise of consumer culture and the Jazz revolution.
The New Roaring 20s
Goldstuck theorised that we’re on the cusp of another such societal shift, a second “Roaring Twenties”, after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
He theorises we’ll see a period of mass celebration as well as the rise of new subcultures, such as the “Flappers” of the 1920s, within the next decade.
The change brought on by the pandemic is, in Goldstuck’s view, nowhere near over.
We’re seemingly set on a techno-cultural boom to overshadow the pessimism around technology that defined the 2010s.
He cautioned, however, that this pessimism could swing all the way around and turn into false optimism.
What Lies Ahead
We’re not on the verge of a technological utopia, just as we’re not on the brink of ruin either, and the answer isn’t always high-tech.
Goldstuck went on to discuss many technological innovations of the past, and how they compare to what we’re experiencing today.
The journey of the telephone compared to online streaming, how the first TV was received similarly to AI and how the story of the horsewhip industry keeps repeating itself.
In Goldstuck’s view, the reason so many industries and businesses are dying is that “The present is already in the past”.
Any business that isn’t thinking about the future is already being left behind.
Learn More
How do we apply these valuable lessons from the past to the future?
Which industry is next, and how do we know what’s coming?
Watch the full talk at http://bit.ly/CareerAGPart1, as well as Part 2 on the same channel, to find out.
You can also sign up for more Career Hub Talks on topics like CV Writing, LinkedIn and more at www.ortsa.org.za/careerhub/.