Reality Shifting Times

What will 2023 be like? It's now March and the world around books have drastically changed from the times when every book in a library could be read over and over again.

• How long will libraries still exist?
• Do people still read?

Most youngsters today only read on their cell phones. What is the future of the internet to do with blogs, websites, ebooks and ordinary printed books!

What predictions can we all agree on, or relate to?

The history of books has gone through a major reality shift since electronic books appeared on the market.

The first e-book appeared in 2004 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. A big publishing house offered a one day workshop at the fair but sadly the panel could not truly answer the questions about formatting for an electronic device.
At that time Google also launched its electronic device-centric distribution model.
Amazon released the Kindle, its first e-reader, on November 19, 2007, for US$399.00
2020
The flip page book has taken a book into a whole new transformation. Or a new way of marketing for Authors through a Book2look widget. Imagine having one marketing tool that gives us authors and writers complete control of our written works that includes bibliographic information and promotional material, view-able anytime, anywhere.

Historically books were a luxury item but today there are multipurpose tablet devices on the market which can replace e-readers.Physical books make better gifts; many people still want bookshelves in their homes.

The print-on-demand systems have reduced major risks by enabling us publishers to print smaller batches.

The biggest change of the past decade is the decline of physical bookshops. Amazon is believed to control nearly half of the total book sales and around two-thirds of e-book sales in the USA but it has also opened the doors for a hurried rush towards self-publishing.

To write a book cost nothing but time. As publishers, we now offer editorial, cover design, in-house formatting for both a printed and an e-book publication plus distribution services for both a print and an e-book copy around the world.

Books that teach rather than inform could have a bright future especially enriched by embedding media and software that adapts to the user's needs. There will be new genres born of the electronic age but there will also continue to be printed books – many of which may be more pleasant to hold, feel and own than ever before.

The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years and nothing is going to be able to stop it, says David Bowie. He was also a financial innovator. He invented Bowie Bonds, which allowed people to invest in his future earnings. The internet would liberate artists. Bands would be able to cut out greedy record labels and sell to fans directly.

Smaller acts would be able to promote themselves cheaply and effectively.

Selling records is not the only way in which artists can make money. There are live performances too. There have been many predictions of how the future of money in music lies in selling “the experience” to fans, rather than records.

Did you think that 3 years later you would never take pictures on film again? The software between 2020 - 2022 will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years, so I have to be careful with story editing as it looks into the future.

Digital print is used in many diverse applications but the most dynamic area for change will be in the fields of packaging.

Digital print is being used on textiles, ceramic tiles, flat and round glass, decorative laminates, automotive applications, electronic and photovoltaic ( generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons.) products, bio-medical and many other promotional and miscellaneous items.

The world of print-on-demand online retailers is growing every year.

The Rise of Consumerism

The print-on-demand economy is attracting more than 22.4 million consumers annually and $57.6 billion in spending.

In the Fashion industry in the next five years, we'll see the concept of the "trend" lose importance as the idea of "personal style" takes its place. Consumers will demand more from brands. The world of fashion may be limitless from an artistic standpoint. From now on into the future we will see the true impact of mobile and digital experts who are expressive with their personal style and excited to share it.

Who knows people will be growing their own dresses, and printing their own suits at home!

Artificial Intelligence, Health, Self-driving and Electric cars, Education, 3D printing, Agriculture and Jobs.

Welcome to Exponential Age. Software and operating platforms will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10-20 years.

• Work: 70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years. most people will start working from their homes.
• 2023, Bookshops will soon have terminals where customers can order ebooks or have a book printed and delivered at their home address the following day.
• True chaos has started around the world with yet again a new virus being spread around the globe. The Corona-virus effect could have a favourable effect on the shift in thinking so far as pollution goes.
• New smartphones will have 3D scanning possibilities. You can then 3D scan your feet and print your perfect shoe at home.
• All major shoe companies have already started 3D printing shoes.
• Cars: In 2023 the first self-driving cars in Holland will be offered to the public.(in my novel)
• Electric cars and charging stations are on the way

Watch out for the advertising on the TV about health insurance and lawyers offering their services. Why?

• 2023 Printed books are soon becoming a rarity.
• 2023 Electric cars will become mainstream and cities will be less noisy because all new cars will run on electricity.
• 2022 - 2024 Insurance companies will have massive trouble because, without accidents, the insurance will become 100 times cheaper. Their car insurance business model will disappear.
• 2023 Our kids born after 2000 will never get a driver’s license and will never own a car. They will call a car on their phone; it will show up at their location and drive them to their destination. This will change the cities because we will need 90-95% fewer cars for our future needs.
• 2023 Young lawyers already don't get jobs There will be 90% fewer lawyers in the future, only specialists will remain.
• 2022 there will be apps that can tell by your facial expressions if you are lying. Imagine a political debate where we know whether the participants are telling the truth and when not!
• 2023 Most petrol-driven car companies will probably end up being bankrupt.
• 2022 Today 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide. With autonomous driving that will drop to 1 accident in 6 million miles. That will save a million lives each year.

Currencies: Many currencies will be abandoned. Bitcoin could become mainstream and might even become the future default reserve currency around the world until better ways are found, like Nesara/Gesara

• 2023 Electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean: Solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years.
• 2023 Only solar energy will be installed worldwide than fossil. Energy companies are still desperately trying to limit access to the grid to prevent competition from home solar installations, but that can't last. Technology will take care of that strategy.
• 2023 With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water. Desalination of salt water now only needs 2 kWh per cubic meter. We don't have scarce water in most places.
• 2024 by this time imagine that it will be possible for anyone to have as much clean water as they need for nearly no cost.
• 2025 Real estate will change. Because if you can work from home people will move further away to live in a more beautiful neighbourhood.
• In China, they have already 3D-printed a complete 6-store office building. By 2027, 10% of everything that’s being produced will be 3D-printed.
• 2030 Our psychic abilities will gradually re-awaken, starting in many already who experience a telepathic interaction.

I do foresee a future where cancer is totally eradicated.
There are companies who will build a medical device (called the "Tricorder" from Star Trek) that works with your phone, which takes your retina scan, your blood sample and you breathe into it.

• 2027 Watson, IBM already claims, is better at cancer diagnosis than human doctors, and it now already helps nurses to diagnose cancer, 4 times more accurately than human nurses and has been turned into a tool for medical diagnosis by nurses.

It will be cheap, so in a few years everyone on this planet will have access to world class medical analysis, nearly for free. Goodbye, medical establishment

• Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world.
• Facebook now has pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans.
• By 2030, some predict that computers will have become ‘more intelligent’ than humans but I do not belief that to be the case.

Longlivity

Medicine is finally transforming from the treatment of illness and disease into preventive measures and the extension of the human lifespan.

• 2035 The average life span increases by 3 months per year from 2019 when the span was 80 years, the increase itself is increasing and by 2035, we all might live for a long, long time, probably way beyond 100.
• 2035 Everyone on this planet will have access to world class medicine for free.

Our physical reality of today has shifted, but what about the consciousness of the human race? I will ponder one that some more.

Nadine