Welcome to the April issue of The Exponential Executive.

In this Issue

	The Future is Now Playing on YouTube
	The Writing in on the Wall ...
	Prepare Your Kids (and Yourself) for the Future
	Just Wait ... It'll Be on Sale Tomorrow
	Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact
	10 Tech Trends for the Near Term

In Other News

The Exponential Executive, in the immortal words of Fleetwood Mac, should never "stop thinking about tomorrow." So whether you're interested in the future of insurance, rural health care, food, automobiles, advertising, the airline industry , regenerative medicine or even the humble entertainment room, my website, jumpthecurve.net, has plenty of food for thought ... just click on the associated link.

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The Future is Now Playing on YouTube

It has been said that the future is embedded in the present. I agree and I think you will too after watching some of these amazing videos from the past month. For example, this video is likely to leave you speechless -- but that's OK because in the future you will only need to think in order to send phone messages.

These two YouTube clips provide a glimpse of the agility and dexerity of future robots. If you combine the aforementioned advance in brain-neural technology with the progress in robotics and then add a little monkey play, you'll also get an idea of how you might soon be able to control a robot by telepathy. 

The Writing in on the Wall ...

The wall of the future will be a busy place. Tailored advertising will soon be appearing on walls; climbing robots are not far behind, and, thanks to new advances in nano solar paint, your wall will even become a collector of energy. (It is not yet known if the solar paint will generate enough energy to power the electronic ads and robots.)

Prepare Your Kids (and Yourself) for the Future

As a parent, I see preparing my children for the future as being among my primary responsibilities. To do the job, I employ a lot of tactics: I encourage them to play; I foster their creativity; and I even allow them to fail.

With this in mind, I’d invite you to watch this 9-minute video by Gever Tulley entitled “5 Dangerous Ideas for Kids.” Most of the lessons might seem counter-intuitive—especially in today’s hyper-cautious environment whereby we try to protect our kids from every possible danger, but the logic behind each idea is solid. (The ideas are even good for adults.)

And if you're interested in getting kids to dream again, I'd recommend this post; and if you want to learn how to become an "Exponential Educator" click on the link.

Just Wait ... It'll Be on Sale Tomorrow

With oil over a $100 a barrel and some analysts predicting it’ll go as high as $300, it is easy to think that the future will be more expensive than today. I have a different take. I believe the future is going to be cheap—very cheap. To learn more, read on.

Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact

In the 1966 hit movie “Fantastic Voyage,” starring Raquel Welch, a team of agents was shrunk down to microscopic size in order to save a scientist from a deadly blood clot. Well, in the category of “Yesterday’s science fiction is today’s science fact,” a scientist has now created a molecular device that is only 17 molecules—or just two-billionths of a meter long—and can be controlled by external forces.

In theory, this means that it is now within the realm of possibility that nanoscale devices will eventualy be able to stream through our bodies and clear our clogged arteries and kill cancer cells before they pose a mortal threat.

(The only negative is that the future nanobots aren’t expected to look nearly as good as Raquel Welch.)

10 Tech Trends for the Near Term

Last fall, the editors at The Futurist released their top ten forecasts for the future. I don’t agree with everything on the list, but the forecast is thought-provoking and I’d encourage interested readers to give it the once-over because the first prediction is this dozy: “The world will have a billion millionaires by 2025.”

Now, a million dollars in the future won’t hold the same cache as million dollars today (due to inflation), but I’d argue that if you want to be a member of the millionaire’s club of 2025 it would behoove you to understand some of today’s trends in technology because they have the potential to either help or hinder your path to future prosperity.

If you're interested in my personal list of top ten technology trends, read on.