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The times they are a changin'

Monday, May 26, 2008

We had a lot of family staying over the weekend. When they had gone I amused myself by browsing some old family videos. The ones I looked at were from the 1960s.

We have about 50 years of cine film and video- all now converted and sitting on terrabytes of computer storage. Some of it is even editted. It spans five generations of the family and I find it a constant source of interest.

But I hadn't been back to the 1960s for a long time. Something remarkable happened around 1963. In 1962 the world as I had filmed it looked like TV footage you now see of the 1930s , 40s and 50s. In 1963 there seemed to be a fundamental transition: everything had changed - cars, buildings , people , clothes - suddenly recognisably modern and Bob Dylan was on the record player singing The Times They are a Changin'.

I cast my mind back to what was happening then:

a new generation (the baby boomers) , quite unlike any before it was growing up and beginning to impact business and culture
a new young American President , quite unlike any before him had created a new vision for the American people and was putting a man on the moon

Now in 2008 , 45 years later, we seem to be on the verge of another fundamental transition. The factors that have powered up economic growth and personal well being since the 1960s are apparently reversing. The pundits say we have seen the end of cheap and plentiful food, energy, travel and credit.

A new generation (the digital generation) quite unlike any before it is growing up and beginning to impact business and culture - fuelled by the continuation of plentiful and cheap consumer technology and digital information, entertainment and communication.

A new young American politician quite unlike any before him and with a new vision for a new age has a great shot at the presidency. The papers are calling him the Facebook politician. His style and vision is echoed by a young conservative leader in the UK.

As Dylan said - Your old road is rapidly agin' .

Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'

We've seen web 2.0, we talk about customers 2.0 , sometimes we think about Business 2.0 , but I wonder what World 2.0 will look like?

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