The rise of the predictive economy
Our current economy is a reactive economy. We have built fantastic institutions like insurance companies, urgent care centers, auto body shops, and more based on our reactions to accidents and medical crises, as well as our needs and wants. Reliance on these institutions is the best system we have as of now. It’s good for today, but it will not be acceptable for tomorrow. Companies are already taking this change into account. Amazon, for instance, has been laser-focused on getting us anything we want as fast as humanly possible, but as “get it fast” becomes yesterday’s news, “get it without asking” is what’s happening today, as is evidenced by their subscribe and save model.
Tomorrow, we will live in a “predictive economy—one that doesn’t wait for things to happen. We’ll look at home automation—already making its way into modern residences today—and determine how our inanimate house can become increasingly animated, anticipating our comfort needs and patterns. We’ll make it possible to predict what days of the month we will need certain amounts of paper towels or coffee grounds to appear on our doorsteps. Once a few places embrace the predictive economy, suddenly our current reactive method will seem inadequate everywhere. We’ll question why car accidents or heart attacks happen, and determine that they don’t have to. We’ll look at problems like food waste or hunger and find ways to use local food at its peak time, or ensure that people worldwide have meals to eat.