Daily Inspiration: “They’re not playing video games …. they’re on the path to virtualization of work!”

“They’re not playing video games: they’re building the critical skills that will redefine our world through the virtualization of work!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

When I got a small drone for Christmas one year, I took 15 minutes every night to try to learn how to fly it. I clearly didn’t have the motor skills to master the nuances of getting it around the living room without crashing it into my wife.

My sons took great hilarity at my discomfort. After all, they would simply fly theirs in circles around me.

They have two coordinated hands, a different set of eyes, and thumbs that work in unison. Me? I have neither!

We baby boomers grew up with punch cards and COBOL; they were weaned on iPods and Nintendo. The result is that this next generation has a different set of fine motor skills, and rapid brain cognitive response, that our generation does not possess.

This has big implications for our future, and it’s one that I explore in Trend #6 of my ’19 Trends for 2019’ : The Gaming Generation Redefines the Future of Work”.

That’s because while we see them playing video games, they’re developing a unique set of skills that is colliding with the arriving sophistication of VR and AR technology.

As I describe in the post: “Farmville redefines farming. Fortnite leads to virtual welding. League of Legends leads to digital twin virtual surgery. These kids accelerate virtual tech, because the skills they have picked up within the gaming world come into the workplace, and redefine the world of work. Gaming and virtual reality collide with robotics and more.”

You can’t discount the impact of this trend.

We are on the edge of the era of 24 hour farming. A time when we will see millions of truck driver jobs go overseas, because the next generation of trucks with no doors and no windows – and no driver – can be driven by someone in a virtual headset thousands of miles away. Medical surgery that involves digital twin technology that provides for the virtualization of healthcare.

So if you see them playing Fortnite, don’t yell at them.

Watch and listen – they have a mind different than our own.

Marvel at the impact!