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Acclaimed futurist predicts astounding technological advances will improve humanity in coming decades

Imagine going on a wine tour in or around Penticton on a self-driving tour bus then jumping in your electric car and heading to your solar-powered home.

While no one knows exactly what the future holds, the advancements in technology such as artificial intelligence are growing at an unprecedented rate, said Nikolas Badminton, an acclaimed "futurist" and technology guru, who was a keynote speaker at Penticton's inaugural FutureBiz Penticton Economic Outllook Forum, held Thursday at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.

Badminton, described as a futurist, trends and innovation expert, gave a thoroughly-entertaining hour-long presentation called 2018-2030: The Evolution of Penticton in front of 175 business and community leaders across the Okanagan and B.C.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia </who>Acclaimed futurist and technological guru Nikolas Badminton gave an entertaining one-hour keynote address at the inaugural FutureBiz Penticton forum Thursday. Badminton predicted the pace of technological advances in things like artificial intelligence, smart cities and self-driving and electric cars is going to be staggering in the coming years and decades.

Badminton's presentation discussed technological advances such as artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, smart cities and an inter-connected global energy grid within the next 20 to 30 years.

Badminton, who was speaking in Penticton for the third time in three years at various conferences. was born near Bristol in southwest England, but has called B.C. and Vancouver home for the past 10 years,

He’s the founder and Chief Executive Officer of a company company called Exponential Minds, a business he called “an associate consultancy of futurists that help very large organizations work out where we’re going.”

The incredible advances made in technology over the past 20 years will seem miniscule in comparison to what he and other futurists believe is going to happen over the next 20 to 40 years, said Badminton.

“Imagine if you have a fleet of wine touring self-driving buses that no one on board has to drive,” he said. “Thumbs up … it’s amazing.”

Artificial intelligence will become a $14 to $15 trillion global business by 2030 and will effect virtually everything humans do on a daily basis, he predicted.

He assured the audience that while artificial intelligence might scare people based on misinformation and Hollywood movies, the advances are going to improve the quality of life for the majority of the world's population.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia </who>A crowd of 175 business owners and community leaders attended the inaugural FutureBiz Penticton Economic Outlook Forum Thursday afternoon.

He also believes more than 50% of cars sold in North America will be electric cars by the year 2030.

The fact virtually no one in the room Thursday had joined Facebook or owned a smart phone dating back only 12 years to 2006 shows just how far technology is advancing, said Badminton.

“Today we have six billion people in the world who have access to mobile technology and those six billion people will have access to smart phone technology within two years,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing how fast we got here.”

Presentations he makes to some of the largest corporations in the world and smaller ones like FutureBiz Penticton share the same message, he said.

“This is a presentation about changing the world,” he said.

The next 20 to 40 years will comprise “the fourth industrial revolution” and will change the world as much as the industrial revolution, electrification and flying machines in the early 1900s, introduction of computers dating back to the late 1960s and advent of the worldwide internet in the early 1990s, he said.

“No one would believed the internet would become the powerhouse that it is today,” he said.

The largest and most profitable companies in the world today are all technology-based, including Microsoft, Google, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, which combined assets in excess of $4.5 trillion, he said.

<who>Photo Credit: File Photo

While the future might scare some people, he believes these technological advances are going to create a new economy with millions of jobs and allow global citizens to improve their quality of life, said Badminton.

“Signals of change are those things that I see today that fundamentally … in five, 10 and 20 years time, we’re going to see a world that’s changed,” he said. “Over time, we’re going to find that the world operates significantly differently, even though it looks the same.”

Here are several of the incredible advances Badminton projected will happen over the next few years and decades in Penticton and around the world:

<who>Photo Credit: File Photo

- The accumulation of “data” will increase 10 and 20-fold by 2025, with the majority of good-paying jobs in the world relating to working in this field. “Every single discipline that we work in will involve data more exclusively in the future.”

- Robots and artificial intelligence will become “the next big thing … it’s going to touch every part of our lives” with reports suggesting 50% of American jobs could be automated within the next 20 years.

- Artificial intelligence will be used within the next few years to write high school essays, drive trucks, working in retail, writing books and working as a surgeon. “This is a future I’m not scared of. I’m excited about what this future can be.”

- Technology will be used to blend wines to make a $20 bottle share the same taste profile as a bottle worth $200 or $300. “It’s going to be a good world for all of us and I find this to be incredibly exciting.”

- He predicts the world is on the cusp of global energy transformation switching largely from oil and fossil fuels to green and renewable technology. This will ironically be led by the world’s largest oil companies, who have the financial resources to invest in these new technologies.

<who>Photo Credit: File Photo

- China will have the world’s largest economy within a decade taking over from the U.S. and have started developing “smart cities” featuring strictly solar and green energy technology.

- A $90 million wind farm in Australia returned more than $13 million in profits within six months of operation.

- He predicted a fully inter-connected global energy grid by 2040 or 2050 with cross-border energy relays that share energy between countries and continents. “This is going to become a reality … you can bet your bottom dollar it will be.”

<who>Photo Credit: File Photo

- Countries like Norway have subsidies in place that ensure an electric car is cheaper to buy than mid-size luxury sports car and close to 50% of all cars sold in that country are now fully electric.

- He predicts more than half of the world’s automobiles sold by 2040 will be electric and believes that estimate is conservative.

- He guaranteed there will be self-driving vehicles on the roads in Penticton within five years. “That’s going to change everything.”

- Technology will play a vital role in producing the 60% increase in food products necessary to feed the world’s population, which will soar by billions, over the next 20 years.

- Large sections of major cities will feature modular construction, container ships and tiny home construction to provide affordable housing and office space. “Modular housing is going to change the way we live.”

- Instead of owning a vehicle, you will be able to order a self-driving vehicle as part of a monthly subscription using your smart phone. “It seems a little strange today. Facebook seemed a little strange in 2006.”

For more information on Nikolas Badminton, click here.



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