The Future is not Synced!

The thought came to my mind while chatting with a colleague at a workspace earlier in Nov from a normal discussion related to data security which just got deeper and I committed myself to write something about it.

As a mid 30s individual (or as we call it, “the Millennial”) I consider “I have seen it all.” What do I mean by that??

?We have seen technology evolve?

?We started with small and chubby TVs with sound issues which still united the family and neighbors on Friday evenings. Then we had the VCR player! I remember being super excited to be on the MS DOS prompt in school where we had to remember the codes to get into different drives and format things and save data on the floppies. Having a floppy collection was something big since we could store data up to 1 or 1.44 MB / floppy. Only natural clouds existed at that time.

Things changed in our lives when my father used a pager to get messages and when my mother’s car was called Oldsmobile (first automatic car in the family).?

I still remember the time when the Backstreet Boys and Brian Adams were the only audio cassettes I had on repeat given from my brother and when the CDs and MP3s came out with 100s of songs my excitement went on a different level, what a joy that was!?

We saw the traditional dial up phones convert into cordless phones that we could sleep with or take to our neighbor’s house. The Compaq 586 computer (before the Pentium 1!) that came to our house got connected through the phone line and let us link to the “WORLD WIDE WEB” and chat rooms with strangers from different parts of the world. “ASL pls” was the simplest pick up line and worked every time. The only drawback was when we heard our mother shout from the kitchen “get off the web, I need to use the phone to call your aunt”.?

But things changed when my first personal cell phone came through - it was so expensive that I had to partner with a friend and use it 3 days a week (we alternated weekends). History was created by the Nokia 3310 but we chose to buy a Samsung SGH-r220 because it had a small antenna as it looked more sleek! It’s ironic that I still use a Samsung! Good job Korea!!

Then came the era of Blackberrys. I remember getting a big-ass Blackberry from work which made me type emails as the last thought before sleeping and again the first thing waking up, not the healthiest, but, it was exciting as it connected me with the clients literally 24/7!?

(And how can we forget the Nintendos and Segas before the Playstations, XBox and Virtual Realities?)

We are in a present enjoying so much of what the past has brought to us… We now drive not just cars, but electric cars. We the civilians not just watch space launches, we are now orbiting the Earth for breathtaking selfies and sharing the experience to the world. This was something we only saw in our dreams or movies.?

These were all part of my journey to the future which I live in right now.?

I always wondered and asked myself how history always displays one side of the story and is printed in books and articles that we read in schools based on where we grew up. If we are more curious about history we would find it in different articles, libraries or documentaries. It all seems fascinating, the advancements are being printed everywhere, the gen Zs and gen Alphas (2010 -2025) are going to read our present advancements as History in their books.

While we had to remember the MS-DOS prompt codes, they will be learning how AI & machine learning codes pretty much tell them what to do rather than the other way around. SmartER and affordable phones will come out, virtual clouds will be everywhere, rockets moving things out of this world to a different world. Technology will have a strong impact, probably more than People, because we have data points and everything is connected - but is it really going to sync the Future?

Now let's look at the other side of this fast moving world… Where do most of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations stand who made all this happen for us? Majority of them still socialize in person with their friends rather than IG or SC or other platforms. They lack technological advancements but they still know how to live life to the fullest. They still enjoy small things like making hand-stitched garments and personalized items for their kids or grandkids. They know how to get from their house to their destination without navigating.

Let us also evaluate the gap between advanced countries compared to countries that lack in advancements. Few countries have rockets and satellites in orbit or have packages delivered in 24 hrs from the time they clicked the order button. Many countries still have hunger or social challenges, let alone the liberty to order stuff from Amazon. In modern social media marketing, they say there are 5 key purchasing powers in this world and if you market to those 5 countries you could have winner products with winning audiences that can roll for a long time, but… what about the other 188 or 190 countries? Countries that don't even have Amazon in their lives yet, countries that even still struggle for health care or social benefits.

?Is our Present Synced??

?In my opinion there’s only one way to answer this question: “LEADERSHIP!”?

Leaders drive the future and it is going to be You and I who contribute our creative ideas towards how the future is going to look like. We the leaders of the society have to find solutions to many global challenges, like shipping. There are 100s of startups coming out every week from so many countries, how are these solutions going to reach 195 countries, not just the few? How are we going to move ahead with the advancements? The answer that comes to my mind is summed up in one word: “bridges”. Constructive bridges between companies, bridges between industries, bridges between countries, bridges between innovative ideas that not only overlap the future generation, but also our parents’ and their parents’ generations. Through these ideas, thoughts, and discussions we can find SOLUTIONS.?

I started this thought process when I was the CEO of South Creek Mills Pvt. Ltd. which ended on Friday Dec 10, 2021, and today I write the final lines of this document beginning anew as the Founder & Business/ Design Consultant of InnoTex Solutions and Collaborations.

I am ready to be the ambassador of the innovative rapid change. Positive or negative we can’t control, but I am ready to anticipate it and prepare for it. That is the step I take towards building bridges hoping it will sync the future in some way!?

Aamir Thobhani

Dec 13, 2021?