Shift Happens

Captain Charles V. Balch MEd, MBA, PhD

Off the Grid• Keep it Simple

40 ft Sailboat – $35KEvery major island in

the Caribbean (for $200 fuel)

2 Solar panelsSix BatteriesLights, fans, stereo,

notebook computer– No fridge– No hot water

What to with Limited Resources

• Learn to use less – Greater efficiencies– Sacrifice/Do without

• Appreciate what you have• Steal from someone else• Find alternatives– It’s fun to buy food daily

Third Stage of the Industrial Revolution

• First Machines extended muscle• Second Machines extend senses• Third Machines extend mind

Expect Change

• The top ten in demand jobs for 2010 – did not exist in 2004

• We are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist…

• Using technologies that don’t yet exist…• To solve problems we don’t know are

problems … yet…

New Communities

• If MySpace were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world (between Indonisia and Brazil).

• There are 31 billion Google Searches each month

• The first text message was sent in 1992 – Today the number of daily text message exceeds

the population of the planet.

Name this Country

• Richest in the World

• Largest Military

• Center of world business and finance

• Strongest education system

• World center of innovation and invention

• Currency the world standard of value

• Highest standard of living

England in 1900

Future Computer Trends

• Smaller, faster, cheaper– Cell phones are a million times cheaper, a thousand

times more powerful, a hundred thousand times smaller than computers built in 1965.

– What used to fit in a building now fits in your pocket– computer will fit inside a blood cell in 25 years

• 500 years to figure out book technology• Facebook, Google, Twitter, Ebay– More ideas out there

Computers as Smart as Humans

• By the year 2030.• The next half century will see 32 times the

amount of innovation of the last half.• We can expect a super computer that exceeds

the computational capabilities of the human brain by 2013.

• By 2049 a thousand dollar computer will exceed the capabilities of the human species.

Man versus Machine?

• Machine– Straight storage and retrieval of information– Defined calculations

• Human– Able to love– Association of different strands of information– To look ahead/plan– Creativity

Survival of the FittestWhat is the Skill Set Best prepares?

• Darwin’s Peppered Moth

My Winner Predictions

• Ability to see the big picture• Ability to quickly find and comprehend

needed facts• Love of life– Virtual Reality will be the ultimate addiction

• Charismatic communication