Thursday, August 03, 2000

The Next 20 Years (2000)

It's hard enough to know what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone in the
next 20 years, but LA-based Bob Ayers and his The Next Twenty Years
travelling road show came to NYC on August 3rd to bring together top
thought-leaders to muse over the topic before over 1,000 new media New
Yorkers. While Joanna and I peopled our booth, I saw Sean Jacobson of
eLance over at his booth, chatting with The Interactive Resource,
Christine Harmel. Seth Price of USLaw.com came over to say hi, and Jeremy
Kaplan of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine and I discussed upcoming issues
for the magazine. Kenneth Ritvo, Joe Cavanaugh of Critical Path and Chris
Rosica of Rosica Mulhern & Associates stopped by to learn about our
Morning Circle series. Joanne Soo of Excite PR introduced me to Fanning
International. Stephen Weiss of RedFilter and Mohit Modgil of Vested
Software told me they're doing business together now, after meeting at one
of our cocktail parties. Dr. Augustine Fou gave me some cards for his new
business, mon-e., and Ben Segal told me he's now over at SharpFlat.com.
Boston-based Alexandra Greenawalt introduced herself and told me about how
the scene in Boston is picking up!

NYCEconomic Development Corp. SVP Ann Gardner Kayman told me of their
plans to help develop international relations. Dara Tyson of Penton Media
looked her usually sunny self as we chatted with Soliloquy director of
corporate communications Shelley Shick. Soliloquy CEO Catherine Winchester
walked by on her cell phone as I chatted with Tery Spataro and Suzie Miles
of Pegasus Healing Systems. Larry Simon of The Shattan Group explained to
me his company's independent investment processes.

And so, what was predicted for The Next Twenty Years? Well, John Petersen
of The Arlington Institute spoke of biotechnology and the Internet as a
diverse spectrum of opinions -- a global brain. Mr. Motorola, Dennis
Roberson, spoke intently of the wireless developments we'll be witnessing
(upstairs at the demo booth) and in stores soon. The funniest speaker, and
most engaging was Dr. Michio Kaku, who along with Madonna is one of the
top 100 smartest people in NY, according to NY magazine. Some of his more
amusing predictions were glasses that will remember names for you and
earrings that will track your location! He spoke of how the Internet will
be like dirt in 2020 -- it will be so cheap and so prevalent that it will
be commonplace for all. He also predicted that the job market will be the
most affected by the Internet. Artificial Intelligence can never replace
common sense, so leaders, trainers, creative people and lawyers will be
irreplaceable in the future. Sadly, it's the middle-men who get squeezed
out.