Timeline for the Future: Potential Developments and Likely Impacts

In Future Shock (1970), Alvin Toffler wrote that technology had accelerated the pace of change so much that people were beginning to lose their moorings. In 1970, clearly, technology still had a lot of accelerating to do, and chances are that it still does. In order to better understand what's happening, let's look at the product cycle. The useful life of a product goes through four stages. These are: 1. idea (a theoretical breakthrough, such as something that would be considered for a Nobel prize), 2. invention (a patentable prototype), 3. innovation (the first consumer product), and 4. imitation (cheap competitors flooding the discount stores). The timeline presented in this article offers some basic information to help with planning for the years ahead. The timeline deals with emerging opportunities and their potential impacts on our lives, rather than with any particular toys.