Inspiring, because it has prompted me to write my own response. I promise it will come. In video form.

However, the flaw I see in your story is that the visceral experience can simply never be replaced. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every mainstream adoption, a new counter movement evolves. So how can a linear future such as you describe exist?

Sure, the economics changes. Therefore I can easily see traditional media respond in the way you describe.

But, people? A prosumer? A fully democratised pattern of consumption and production?

Hm.

The smell and feel of a book, and its ability to create a home from a house (wow! look at those bookshelves! This is who you are!), will never replace a digital interface. They have different functions. People consume them differently. Media production and socio-cultural consumption are entirely different bea(s)ts.

If everyone is a prosumer, then who do they look to for inspiration? Each other? How do they progress? Experience is not linear. How do we filter? Is the semantic web so smart? And if it is, are people that smart? Do they want that? Or will they retreat, react and seek out more visceral (counter revolutionary) experiences?

For every Levi Strauss there is a Derrida, for every Beatles a Rolling Stones, for every Lady Gaga a Fleet Foxes that spin the past and the future in opposite directions. The present, at any moment in time, spins off new ideas diametrically opposed. Dialectics is the way we progress. The way we learn.

Your video is a nice thought. But far too linear for a true insight into the future even a decade away in my (2AM after a nice bottle of syrah) humble opinion.

I have much more faith in people, culture and art for such an ultimately depressing perspective

Still, a most splendid video. Thank you.

Best

Steve Seager
Strategy & PR director
we do communications