The Investment Capital Growth Blog

10 Metatrends Shaping the Next Decade That You Need To Know About

This is where master entrepreneurs and their teams must see beyond the immediate implications of a given technology, and capture second-order, Google-sized business opportunities on the horizon. 

Discussing these Metatrends is a key focus of my executive coaching program.

In this two-part blog series, we’ll look at how these 20 Metatrends are shaping our future. Today, I’ll discuss the first 10: from increasing healthspan to AI-human collaboration.

Welcome to a new era of runaway technological booms, historic watershed moments, and extraordinary abundance. 

Let’s dive in…

10 METATRENDS SHAPING OUR FUTURE 

(1) Continued Increase in Global Abundance: The number of individuals in extreme poverty continues to drop, as the middle-income population continues to rise. Everyday goods and services (finance, insurance, education, and entertainment) are being digitized and becoming fully demonetized, available to the rising billion on mobile devices. The case for abundance has massively proven out since the publication of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think in 2012.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: high-bandwidth and low-cost communication, ubiquitous AI on the cloud, growing access to AI-aided education and AI-driven healthcare.

(2) Global Gigabit Connectivity Will Connect Everyone and Everything, Everywhere, at Ultra-low Cost: The deployment of both licensed and unlicensed 5G, plus the launch of a multitude of global satellite networks (Starlink, OneWeb, etc.), allow for ubiquitous, low-cost communications for everyone, everywhere––not to mention the connection of trillions of devices. And today’s skyrocketing connectivity is bringing online an additional 3 billion individuals, driving tens of trillions of dollars into the global economy.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: low-cost space launches, hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power. 

(3) The Average Human Healthspan Will Increase by 10+ Years: A dozen game-changing biotech and pharmaceutical solutions (currently in Phase 1, 2, or 3 clinical trials) will reach consumers this decade, adding an additional 10+ years to the human healthspan. Technologies include stem cell supply restoration, Wnt pathway manipulation, senolytic medicines, a new generation of Endo-Vaccines, GDF-11, and supplementation of NMD/NAD+, among several others. And as machine learning continues to mature, AI is set to unleash countless new drug candidates, ready for clinical trials. This is the topic of my next book called LIFEFORCE being co-authored with Tony Robbins and Bob Hariri, MD/PhD (Celularity) that will be available in February 2022.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: genome sequencing, CRISPR technologies, AI, quantum computing, and cellular medicine. 

(4) An Age of Capital Abundance Will See Increasing Access to Capital Everywhere: Over the past few years, humanity hit all-time highs in the global flow of seed capital, venture capital, and sovereign wealth fund investments. While this trend will witness some ups and downs in the wake of future recessions, it is expected to continue its overall upward trajectory. Capital abundance leads to the funding and testing of “crazy” entrepreneurial ideas, which in turn accelerate innovation. Already, $300B in crowdfunding is anticipated by 2025, democratizing capital access for entrepreneurs worldwide. And even during a pandemic (2020), the world deployed more venture capital than ever before, handily beating out the last high-water mark in 2019.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: global connectivity, dematerialization, demonetization, and democratization.

(5) Augmented Reality and the Spatial Web Will Achieve Ubiquitous Deployment: The combination of Augmented Reality (yielding Web 3.0, or the Spatial Web) and 5G networks (offering 100Mb/s – 10Gb/s connection speeds) will transform how we live our everyday lives, impacting every industry from retail and advertising, to education and entertainment. Consumers will play, learn and shop throughout the day in a newly intelligent, virtually overlaid world. This is where technologies like SpatialWeb.net, Vatoms, and Apple’s next generation AR & VR headsets will shine.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power. 

(6) Everything is Smart, Embedded with Intelligence: The price of specialized machine learning chips is dropping rapidly with a rise in global demand. Imagine a specialized $5 chip that enables AI for a toy, a shoe, a kitchen cabinet? Combined with the explosion of low-cost microscopic sensors and the deployment of high-bandwidth networks, we’re heading into a decade wherein every device becomes intelligent. Your child’s toy remembers her face and name. Your kid’s drone safely and diligently follows and videos all the children at the birthday party. Appliances respond to voice commands and anticipate your needs. 

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: AI, 5G networks, and more advanced sensors. 

(7) AI Will Achieve Human-level Intelligence: As predicted by technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence will reach human-level performance this decade (by 2030). Through the 2020s, AI algorithms and machine learning tools will be increasingly made open source, available on the cloud, allowing any individual with an internet connection to supplement their cognitive ability, augment their problem-solving capacity, and build new ventures at a fraction of the current cost.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: global high-bandwidth connectivity, neural networks, and cloud computing. Every industry, spanning industrial design, healthcare, education, and entertainment, will be impacted. 

(8) AI-Human Collaboration Will Skyrocket Across All Professions: The rise of “AI as a Service” (AIaaS) platforms will enable humans to partner with AI in every aspect of their work, at every level, in every industry. AIs will become entrenched in everyday business operations, serving as cognitive collaborators to employees—supporting creative tasks, generating new ideas, and tackling previously unattainable innovations. In some fields, partnership with AI will even become a requirement. For example: in the future, making certain diagnoses without the consultation of AI may be deemed malpractice. 

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: increasingly intelligent AI, global high-bandwidth connectivity, neural networks, and cloud computing.

(9) Most Individuals Adapt a JARVIS-like “Software Shell” to Improve Their Quality of Life: As services like Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod expand in functionality, such services will eventually travel beyond the home and become your cognitive prosthetic 24/7. Imagine a secure JARVIS-like software shell that you give permission to listen to all your conversations, read your email, monitor your blood chemistry, etc. With access to such data, these AI-enabled software shells will learn your preferences, anticipate your needs and behavior, shop for you, monitor your health, and help you problem-solve in support of your mid- and long-term goals.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: increasingly intelligent AI, neural networks, and cloud computing.

(10) Globally Abundant, Cheap Renewable Energy: Continued advancements in solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear and localized grids will drive humanity towards cheap, abundant, and ubiquitous renewable energy. The price per kilowatt-hour will drop below 1 cent per kilowatt-hour for renewables, just as storage drops below a mere 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, resulting in the majority displacement of fossil fuels globally. And as the world’s poorest countries are also the world’s sunniest, the democratization of both new and traditional storage technologies will grant energy abundance to those already bathed in sunlight. Incredible companies like Heliogen will be able to mine sunlight and water to create cheap, abundant hydrogen as a storage medium. We are also on the cusp of many breakthroughs in fusion power as capital, new materials, and entrepreneurs pour in this arena.

This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of the following: materials science, hardware advancements, AI/algorithms, and improved battery technologies.

The decade ahead is going to be the BEST TIME EVER to be an exponential entrepreneur. With many dozens of Google-sized ($1T) opportunities emerging and thousands of multi-hundred-million-dollar startups on the horizon.

Are you clear about how you’re going to use these Metatrends? About what company you’re going to build next?

Would you like my coaching on this topic? Then… 

JOIN MY EXECUTIVE COACHING PROGRAM

If you want my coaching as an exponential entrepreneur and to reinforce those mindsets that will inspire and guide you to create a hopeful, compelling and abundant future for yourself and humanity, then consider joining my executive coaching program.

Contributor: Peter Diamandis, Founder, X Prize Foundation and Chairman of Singularity University, with edits by Cliff Locks, Investment Capital Growth, Managing Director and Executive Coach

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Cliff Locks is a trusted mentor, confidant, and advisor to CEOs, C-Level Exec, and high-potential employees to help them clarify goals, unlock their potential, and create actionable strategic plans.

Available to join your Board as a Certified Master Professional Board of Director and Advisor.

I am a trusted mentor, confidant, and advisor available by Zoom and by phone to be your right-hand man, who will make a significant contribution and impact on your way to success.

As a Trusted Mentor, Confidant, and Advisor, I support you, along with your company’s strategic and annual operating plan. This plan may include marketing, sales, product development, supply chain, hiring policies, compensation, benefits, performance management, and succession planning.

Most successful leaders enjoy talking to someone about their experiences, which is why most develop a close relationship with a Trusted Confidant—a person with whom they feel free to share their thoughts, concerns, and ideas without fear of sharing too much or being judged by the people they lead, or their colleagues and superiors. I am a sounding board who will help you to better develop and see your ideas through to fruition.

The most effective Executive find confidants who complement their strengths and sharpen their effectiveness. Bill Gates uses Steve Ballmer in this way; Warren Buffett turns to vice chairman Charlie Munger. In the end, both the Executive and their organizations benefit from these relationships.

As your trusted confidant, I am always by your side, holding your deepest secrets and never judging. Everything discussed is held in complete confidence.

What many executives feel is missing from their busy life is a trusted business person who understands the holistic complexity of both their business and personal life.

I strive to provide solid financial, business, and family expertise and serve as a dispassionate sounding board, a role I like to call “Executive Confidant.”

By holding a safe place for the Executive to work on life path issues as well as direction, I repeatedly see remarkable benefits as personal values become integrated with wealth and family decisions, enhancing a more meaningful life.

As an Executive Confidant, I welcome a confidential conversation about the most important issues facing the business leader, including:

• Strategic planning toward your visions of success and goal setting • Operations, planning, and execution • Career transition • Retirement • Legacy • Kids and money • Marriage and divorce • Health concerns • Values and life purpose • Vacations • Mentoring & depth of the executive bench • Succession planning

When I do my job well, I facilitate positive action in both your professional and personal life. This consistently has a positive benefit on impacting people within the sphere of your influence.

The job of an Executive can be lonely. For various reasons, confiding in colleagues, company associates, family members, or friends presents complications. Powerful, successful, and wealthy individuals often isolate themselves as a protective reaction because of their inability to find people they can trust and confide in.

Successful people are often surrounded by many people, yet they insulate and isolate themselves to varying levels of degree. This isolation factor is not often discussed in the same context because the assumption is that success and wealth only solve problems. The false belief is that it does not create more problems, when, in fact, sometimes it creates a unique set of new challenges. Success and wealth do not insulate you from the same pitfalls that the everyday person faces. It may give you access to better solutions perhaps, and that is what I can help you achieve. Financial business success can create unique vulnerabilities, often overlooked as most people feel that the “problems” of the wealthy are not real-life problems.

The Executive Confidant can be particularly helpful when:

• Aligning life priorities with the responsibilities of wealth. • Wanting more meaning and purpose in life. • Desiring a candid and experienced perspective. • The answers often come from within, and we cannot arrive at them easily. • Clarity often comes into focus, with skilled questions and guided discovery. The right questions can be the first step in achieving ideal outcomes.

Who can you turn to when you need to find clarity? Who is your “Executive Confidant”?

Referrals to a team members or family members are always welcome.

Investment:

One-to-One – Individual payment: Strategic Coaching: $295 per month (weekly for 30 minute Zoom meeting).

One-to-One – Corporate payment:
Coaching & Leadership Development: $600 per month engagement (weekly 1 hour Zoom meeting).

Board of Directors or Board of Advisors:

• Private company:
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