Authors: Marie Lena Tupot & Timothy Stock
Trend Themes: Ghost Town Economics, Ghost Gigs, Ghost Populi, Ghost Worlds, Phantom Physicians, Paradise Lost, Ghost Food Systems, Autonomous Living Patterns, Humanless Spaces, Invisible Indicators, Shadow Currencies, Stealth Operations.
A TIME FOR TRANSFORMATION
Change happens fast — leaving us seemingly caught unaware. We talk about planning for black swans. Yet, the Covid19 pandemic is demonstrating that directional signals were always there as ghosts to heed and help us get ahead of a crisis. We had the language in place for innovation. Now the sustainability of our innovations is being tested. This is a call to adaptability. We can plan our way forward from this moment in history. Emerging in a better place requires bringing abstract thought into focus.
“Just listen carefully to what I have to tell you…I could tell you stories that would slice through your soul, freeze your blood.”
THE ORIGIN OF GHOSTS IN LANGUAGE
Ghosts have metaphorically haunted us for centuries. In fact, the Hebrew origin of the word ghost or spirit is “ruach.” Its meaning is the power encountered in the breath and wind. But the more real ghosts become for us today, the less we choose to see them. When they make their appearance as empty storefronts, we hurry by. When we name them as trends, such as ghost kitchens, we embrace them. Never recognizing that we are blindly embracing absence. Never questioning what that loss might mean in the future…
EXPRESSING OUR FEARS
Coronavirus has illuminated the source of these fears for us. “We turn out to be so vulnerable in the United States. Not only because we have no safety net, or very little of one, but because we have no emergency preparedness, no social infrastructure,” explains author/activist Barbara Ehrenreich, in an interview with Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, March 21, 2020.
MOVING BEYOND PURGATORY
“Just when millennial and Gen Z voters have the most power to choose their leaders, many feel no one is speaking to them. So many of them don’t vote. So many candidates continue not to speak to them. So they get still more disillusioned,” writes Maggie Astor, “Young Voters Know What They Want. But They Don’t See Anyone Offering It,” New York Times, March 20, 2020. “Their open frustration is really exhaustion.”
GLOBAL DYNAMICS OF GHOST TRENDS
Advancing technology has buoyed ghost trends through insular top-down practices and rigid go-to-market processes. In a March 27, 2020, Fast Company article, advisor Navi Radjou emphasizes that “US firms need a frugal and agile mind-set to not only survive during the current health crisis but also to innovate for success in the recessionary post-coronavirus word.” AI in IoT Devices will exceed $105B in North America by 2025. Will we be investing in the right way?
