This interview is the long-form version of a conversation about blockchain, digital transformation, and how they are changing the world we live in with Lars Thomsen, Chief Futurist at Future Matters.

Clips from the interview

A new model for society, politics, work
“We’re exiting the industrial age and entering an age we still have to name.”

Importance of blockchain
“Important layer so we can trust the Internet. With IoT, we need to rely and trust this network because it is mission critical.”

The #1 management task today
“Our main asset over computers is creativity. This ability is the most vital skillset that companies have in terms of being innovative. They need to foster creative potential, this is the number one management task today.”

Value-driven companies
“We’ll have a war for talent. People need money, but it’s not the main driver. The most talented people go to the jobs that offer most interesting field of applying their knowledge. Companies in the future will be value-driven. In 10 years, companies will act more like clubs that people want to be a member of.”

New priorities
“Communities will develop technology outside of closed environments. We are changing out attitude towards money. Money today matters less. Other priorities than earning money. Friendship, non-material values, safety, ability to use talents and skills that makes you happy become more important.”

Technology and the economy
“Economies need to grow always, that’s a problem. The imperative to grow. Newtechnology makes things more efficient, which results in less growth. E.g., self-driving cars. Growth goes down, even though people might have better lives, but the economy is threatened by decline. In the next 10 years a world-wide crisis comes out of the technology and the crisis of work.”

Facing tension
“Innovation makes life more convenient. In the long-run, we will choose the right things. More comfortable and safe and more worth living. The problem is that the speed of innovation is so fast that the structure of society cannot integrate innovative offerings and hold together society like before. The effect is the inequality gap. Some people are scared of the future, and others want to increase the speed even more. This is the tension we are facing in the next ten years. This might tear parts of our democracies and societies apart.”

System reboot
“Like a computer that crashed, we need a reboot of our system. This is the most likely scenario that we have to do a reboot to start on a clean sheet. We won’t start in the stone age, but have to rebuild our basic pillars of society and take into account what we can do with AI, networks so they can benefit everybody.”

The human(e) future
“We will look at people differently and join forces. Money and status matter less. I believe the future will be more human, humane.. no, human, than the last 100 years we’ve seen.”