This is an introduction to a new category on my blog ‘Living in the FUTURE’ which explores latest innovations and developments happening in our world today.

We humans are an inquisitive lot; and it is this trait that compelled our ancestors to venture out of Africa and overrun the entire world. We are also an acquisitive race, which is why we continually seek and strive to better ourselves and everything around us.

Over the last 70,000 years, we have driven all other strains of the Homo genus into extinction to become the sole surviving human species on earth. New ways of thinking and communicating and cooperating heralded the agricultural revolution, and led to the building of kingdoms, empires. We invented writing, created religion, introduced money to take our story forward; and in the last 500 years, have gained unprecedented power through scientific discoveries, industrialization and global trade. In more recent times, we have forayed into the realms of nuclear power, information technology, robotics and artificial intelligence. No longer limited by the boundaries of our planet, today we seek newer worlds in the infinite universe.

We sure have come a long way. What new frontiers will we conquer in the next 50 years? 500 years? 5000 years?

Science fiction writers and movie makers have been telling us fantastic stories about superhumans, intelligent machines, time travel, space missions, extraterrestrial civilizations, alien invasions, invisibility, and all that can be possibly – and impossibly – imagined! Perhaps the future will have some semblance to these far-fetched wonderful tales?

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Undoubtedly, the future will be shaped by technological breakthroughs happening today. While it is difficult to look further than we can see, one thing is for sure: the future will be very different from what we can anticipate today. And my foremost thought, laced with quite some anxiety, is: How will I adapt to this new future?

When I look back at the last 10, 20, 30 years, in fact all my adult years, my life has changed phenomenally. Computers, smartphones, flash drives, search engines, Google maps, YouTube, social media, cloud computing, Bluetooth, electric cars, 3D printing, e-readers, online shopping… are an integral part of my life today… and I, like others in my generation, often catch myself thinking, “How on earth did I manage without them?!”

And the breakneck speed at which science and technology are advancing in our 21st century is mindboggling! Disruption is a tsunami taking down the old order furiously… The future is already happening ~ every day, everywhere. AND we need to ride the furious waves of change. Otherwise we will be left behind ~ outdated, outmoded, outpaced.

I shudder to think of a time when I wake up to an alien world, disoriented, disabled, defeated. Overcome and overwhelmed by the changes around me. Changes that leave me feeling irrelevant and inconsequential. What meaning will my life have for me then?

To survive such a fate, I need to become a part of the change. I need to keep my fears under control. I need to become less rigid and more willing to accept new ideas. I need to update my knowledge. I need to sharpen my ability to learn new things and hone new skills. Only then will I become a natural resident of the new world. Most crucially, I should never allow my AGE to become a barrier in my endeavors.

The future is here. And we need to live in it. Now.