We are all getting smarter [or want to look smarter]

This is a nice summary of a trend that people have been talking about for a while. Very briefly – although people bemoan the state of popular culture, most of the evidence suggests that we are, in fact, getting smarter (or at least wanting to look smarter). It all echoes a book written by steven johnson called “everything bad is good for you” which made the link between culture and cognitive improvements even more explicit.

So, not exactly cutting edge but it’s nice and counter intuitive and gives good anecdote - there’s a decent conference presentation somewhere in here if one was so inclined. It is also just the sort of thing that you might put along side harder economic trends in a futures workshop.

This is part of a plan that I have to remind people that futures thinking is not all about whiz bang, collaborative-free-value-wikiscapes. For a view of what the world might actually look like in five years time you need to look at the slower slightly more prosaic stuff too.