It's been said that we're in the Age of Information, or the Digital Age, or the Information Revolution. However, I've also heard that today's paradigm - our Zeitgeist is also known as the Age of Mobile, Age of Drones, Age of Wearables/IoT, Age of Tech, Age of Entrepreneurship, New Space Age/Race, New Age of Exploration, Age of Many Many Many Things! What I'm observing to be the reality instead is that we are in the Age of Futurism. Yes, Futurism used to be a thing but it's seen a resurgence. All the innovations we're seeing nowadays extend beyond just the Digital World. Yes, the Digital World is the Mother of a lot of what we're seeing nowadays such as the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning. However we're getting really funky, we're reviving retro sci-fi dreams such as AR/VR, we're tackling the world in oh so many ways that I don't think it does it justice to simply say we're in the Age of Information or Digital Age.

But what does being in the Age of Futurism mean? Is it merely just about making futuristic technologies come into being? Is it merely about pursuing the unknown? Is it merely about going where no human has ever gone before, what with things like SpaceX, the Hyperloop, and all them Google moonshots being pursued. I say, it's more than just building, inventing, innovating, disrupting, making, hacking, designing, developing, etc all these things. It's about understanding that in order to get there, we need to change some fundamental parts of our society. A couple of them are already being pushed for such as the value of coding, the importance of teaching entrepreneurship to youth, and delivering Wifi to underprivileged parts of the world. But I argue the following:

It used to be that if you were ignorant, that was acceptable because we didn't have the internet. Of course, it depends on what you were ignorant of, but it made sense if you didn't know certain things because you didn't have access to that knowledge. However, nowadays I argue that you have no right to be ignorant any longer, at least ignorant to things you should know about but don't. You should know about all the job options that are out there for you for example. You should know about what technology/business trends are out there. You should know what products/services are out there. You should be fully/well informed of certain things so that you can't make uninformed decisions. Yes, there will always be things you'll be ignorant of, but I'm talking about practical/useful information, not "how many kings were there in the history of humanity", not trivia. What I'm trying to get at is not only do I agree that the Internet is made a utility, but I argue that if you're living in a Developed Nation but you still haven't heard of such things like Wearable Technology, you're being deprived.

We should work hard at disseminating the kind of knowledge that we all need to know in order to collectively get us to that futuristic society equally. We may be in the Age of Futurism, but not many people know that. Many people still think the peak of our society are tablets and convertible computers. Many people haven't even heard of what Silicon Valley is up to even though Silicon Valley has been there for a while now. many people are still ill-informed and yet I don't think they should be. It should be our responsibility to tell it on the mountain, to preach the gospel of futurism, to blare it out to everyone everywhere the Good News of Futurism! We're actually in an age where the future is closer to our grasp than ever before. We're actually building that Star Trekian future. We're actually doing things that only a decade ago were considered sci-fi. It's an unbelievable world that we live in and yet not many people know that. I want the whole world to know how awesome of the world we're living in. I don't want any more cultural depictions of technology and business as worlds of evil. I don't want any more tv shows, movies, or songs depicting the worlds of Engineering and Entrepreneurship as worlds of greed, selfishness, and arrogance. I want the world to know that we're in an exciting time, we're living in a time where top entrepreneurs fear for a Terminator-like future. We're living in a time where time machines, space elevators, warp drives, light sabers, and internet-in-space are no laughing matter anymore. How incredible! How wondrous! How miraculous of a world!

Yes, big businesses are still up to no good, yes we're still polluting the world, yes terrorism is still a pressing threat daily. However, we need to start sharing the Good News more! We need more people to be involved in social entrepreneurship for example. We need more positivism, optimism, and passion in this world! We need everyone, not just in the innovative parts of the world, but the non-innovative parts, the Winnipeg of the world, the places that aren't high-tech to become more high-tech. This shouldn't be a desire, a want, an option anymore, this should be a collective/social responsibility. We shouldn't be saying - "hey, if you still want to live in the Stone Age, then be my guest". Mind you, I do know that I should tread carefully with what I'm saying. Yes, there are people in this world who are still considered "uncontacted", the indigenous tribes for example that haven't even seen a computer. I'm not saying those people should be subjected to the way of life we're in. Mind you, if we can do it in a peaceful manner that respects their integrity then we should. But, I am saying, if you at least know what the internet is, you need to be a part of this global movement towards that futuristic world. Why? Because it's going to take a global effort to get us there.

Gene Roddenberry pictured the world that was able to put aside their differences and go from a UN to the Intergalactic Union. If we wish to get there, we can't have anyone who at least has access to the internet to not even know what an incubator/accelerator are, to not even know what crowdfunding/crowdsourcing are, to not even know what a hackathon is, etc. We can't afford to have the world like that; I won't stand for the world like that. I think everyone should have a right to know that we're in the Age of Futurism - the age where "anything can happen and will!" This is a wonderful world that we're in, and if you don't know about it, I weep for you. Let's tell it on the mountaintops, everyone. Every day I see some news post about the kinds of things we're exploring, I can't help but feel like the whole world should know about it. Age of Futurism, that's what we're in! I'll end by saying - Thank You to everyone involved in building this awe-inspiring world we're in. Keep on doing what you do! I can't wait to get my hands even more dirty in this realm.

-Tian-Yuan Zhao