GEAB 116

The anticipation work must watch closely the “weak signals”, as futurists used to call them. They are accessible items of information, but hardly reflected within the media, information which provides relevant insight into major changes in society. Paying attention to those signals, interpreting them and cross-referencing them is part of the work of any decision-maker who wants to have the overall vision necessary for any well-informed decision-making action. These signals are unlimited. We will regularly provide you with a list of them. Just like the “calendar of the future” we initiated a few months ago, our “weak signals of trends selections” are factual tools designed to nurture the individual anticipation ability of our readers.

– The mobile telephony has just recorded its five billionth mobile owner worldwide. Two thirds of the world’s population are now interconnected, with 55% in the Asia-Pacific region. In Europe, since June 15, the roaming is gone: roaming fees will disappear in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein for 465 million subscribers in Europe[1]. Mobile telephony is to the global society what the roads were to the Roman world 2000 years ago. This time, it is not about connecting places, but about connecting people directly, and along these infinitely numerous communication channels, countless economic and social activities are established. Any connected entity instantly becomes a reflection of the whole. Each connected individual is a microcosm. Human society becomes a unique body. The optimisation of the functioning of this new social paradigm is a vast subject requiring everything to be invented (education, working methods, democracy, wisdom …).