The past few days I've attended a European futurist congress and met Aubrey de Grey, a very special man. I estimate his age at around forty, mumbles, has a long beard and if you talk to him he keeps working on his email on his Apple. A man who deserves attention. A man who claims, well-supported, that humans can live forever in the future. We can always get an accident, of course, but in principle we'll always be young. His argument is documented in his book Ending Age. Below some twists regarding the implications.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Of course this is perfect for futurists. A young body, but with the experiences of someone of 40, 140, 1040? What are you going to learn from your parents of 340 and 920? Will you be going to school at all? Will you be having children because it always postpones because it’s always possible? Or will you make families dozens of times throughout your life? For fun? What’s raising a child for twenty years in all of your life? What happens to 300-year-old friendships? What happens to the world population? The numbers will rise rapidly? Before you know it we’ll be over 100 billion. The world definitely won’t be able to take that. The enthusiastic reactions of the futurists were that the only solution lies in colonizing space. We have to. A very special scenario, but if we believe this man definitely not unrealistic. Not in 2010, maybe not in 2030, but around 2050, the time of the pamper planet, people up to the age of 50 can be restored to a young existence and live forever. Readers of this blog are warned: stay healthy and live forever or make a few health errors and belong to the last generation of mortals.

By the by, Aubrey is still looking for rich sponsors and will come to Leiden to speak at a biogerontology congress soon.

Last spring Arjan Haring of Haring Institute of Happiness and I organised a private session with magician Ramana (Dutch). Together with twenty scientists, artists and smart people from businesses we were all over Ramana, all interested, on the edge of our seats, to understand what we were seeing. Were they magic tricks? Illusions? Or were these phenomena which we don't understand scientifically yet, but can use?

The fact that a few days earlier he'd won the tv-show De Nieuwe Uri Geller (The New Uri Geller, Dutch) made this session extra special. (Thankfully, we'd already booked him in December, which kept things affordable.)

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

To understand the world you have to be able to let go of what you’ve learned before. From the moment we arrive on earth, perhaps even sooner, we note certain observations that help us survive and we drop other things to the side. It goes so far that we can’t even experience many phenomena any more. We see them as impossible. Perhaps you can call this and illusion.

But also other things which we don’t view as a part of our daily lives, that aren’t normal, call it paranormal, belong to this way of thinking. From my own experiences I know children who arrive on the earth paranormal, make unexplainable predicts and with whom, years later, the parents say they’re ‘thankfully doing a lot better’. Which means they’ve stopped showing the paranormal behaviour, or show it less. Thankfully, because it was almost impossible to handle and it made the child unhappy. That illustrates exactly what I mean. And that’s what I’m looking for. Always looking for. Because the intrinsic human being, the naked-born human being, shows far more how the future could develop than watching and researching the world citizens of today.

Inspiring! Thank you, Ramana!

Futhermore, Ramana will soon host a session with a company of traditional Indian jagudars (street magicians) and an Indian fakir/mentalist. The performances take place in in the Tropentheater (Dutch) in Amsterdam on Saturday 22nd of November and Monday the 24th at 20.30 and on 23 November in the Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp at 15.00. I’m going to watch again.

People who want to lose weight would benefit from keeping a diary in which they also photograph the food they're eating. Research by Lydia Zepeda en David Deal (University of Wisconsin-Madison) shows that a confrontation with photographs works better than a regular diary. On top of that it also works preventively. The quantity of food is, in contrast to in a written book, judged before hand which forces one to think. There have been examples of participants who no longer ate crisps or candy because it was too confronting to photograph these beforehand.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

A comparable technique from hypnosis is writing down what you feel before you start eating, then you’re allowed to eat anything afterwards. When you’re aware of being frustrated and have earned a cookie for it, you almost won’t want the cookie anymore.

With this technique it’s a combination of the two. People think in images and not in text, so it’s not surprising that this works better. It’ll be even better when people put it on video. Just tell the camera why you’re eating that. In the step that follows we’ll have real-time contact with our health coaching brand. Then we’ll get 24/7 feedback on our eating habits. Hear immediately what the impact on our body is if we eat at that moment. Then losing weight will be a completely different story.

Chinese researchers have made a breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis. With the aid of carbon nanotubes (falls under nanotechnology) they can reproduce an important part of photosynthesis that was hitherto not possible.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Most important about this development is that devices will start to disconnect from their power supply. At the moment we need electric cables everywhere. This means that cars recharge themselves in sunlight; this means that computers can be outside; that robots can recharge in the garden. For humans that means an enormous increase in our freedom and furthermore we’re relieved from the slumbering concern of energy supplies, something that will help especially the underdeveloped countries to reach ‘western’ levels.

Related trends

• 2025-2050: Roboworld
• More freedom

Digital photos connect to the intrinsic need of human beings to relive past experiences. I call this phenomena the nostalgic human. An older technique to help this person was the micro mosaic. During the industrialization a new class of rich people was formed and they traveled. They'd come to foreign countries of which they'd like to bring home something to remember the trip by. Those could be made by this technique. They're miniscule pieces of glass that (feel like) they form a smooth surface. The postcard followed later of course and then the photograph and the video. Digital photography today is another step in between stages.

Soon I'll be going on Vipassana meditation for ten days. An important element of this meditation is 'clear perception . That means that you have to learn to let go of everything you've learned in line (such as social behavior, safe behavior and words that go with objects). Even assumptions like 'this is my arm' can be forgotten (like a baby hasn't really realized this either). What you're learning in actual fact is how to see things loose of all the earlier associations you've collected in your life again. You'll learn to see them anew, come into the world anew like a baby. With that you'll be set free from all existing thought patterns. I think I'll be able to use this both professionally as privately very well.

Professionally because in a changing world you should only look at how things really are not how we've made them, or how we look at reality now. Because of that I was wondering if people who are (much) less in contact with other people (like autistic people are, for example) would be in a position to discover new ways from a different starting point. Some autistic people (savant syndrome) are capable of extraordinary feats that we cannot explain, never mind accomplish ourselves. But maybe a different education, from the very beginning, would enable to produce such feats en masse. Then we'll have a completely different generation of people. I'm very curious about which new insights I'll discover (but I'm not expecting any special feats; I'm primary going for rest ).

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In this video Derren Brown, known for playing with our brains, demonstrates how a random passerby can stop other people from dozens of metres away. Impressive. But the question here is: what are we seeing? Are we making contact with the quantum field in which all life on earth is connected or is it just a trick and everything is acted? Whoever has had telepathic experiences will lean towards the former, which is extremely interesting – what would we be able to do with it in the future? – and revealing the trick would be a shame then. Let me know what you think!

Many companies have a different interest than the consumer:

• pharmaceutical companies benefit from ill patients, not healthy ones. Because of this they'll be more inclined to develop medicines that are used for a long period of time than medicines that heal or, even better, medicines that prevent.


• banks benefit from many loans so that a lot of interest gets paid. Their own risk is at the forefront then.


• the producers of mobile electronics such as cameras or cell phones benefit from as many sales as possible. If something's stolen, you'll just have to buy a new device. Technically speaking, for example, telephone networks can block stolen phones, but it doesn't happen.

And so I was wondering today why no one's inventing paint that stays for thirty years. It should be possible in 2008. Now I'm not an expert on paint, but I've got the feeling that conflicting interests are part of this too.

Related trends

• Coaching brands
• Network economy

People often speculate on the future of cell phones. We often forget why today's cell phones got their big break-through. 'Touch', for example, that is experiencing its greatest break-through nowadays was easy to predict because it suits human nature so much better. Just look at how young children interact with the things they point at or how the elderly first try to use a computer. Then you'll see human nature again. (See also the book (Dutch) in which I conjectured the iPhone in 2004.)
Voice control will be the next break-through, at which you can ask what the future of cell phones will be like. Or won't there be one?

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

After all, no one really needs to drag a little box that has different settings depending on where in the world you are and needs to be recharged every now and again around. Only a very small amount of people likes looking up new features (menu->applications->settings). But nature drives are built-in, so if we can be helped very simply, so befitting our nature) by those, then please.

The future therefore will be much simpler: built-in (or implanted) ear plugs that will allow sound from outside on command. So have modes in ‘presence’ (actively present at the spot you’re at), ‘connected’ (connected to a virtual world with real or artificial people) or ‘mixed’ (in which you can have spoken assistance with your own behavior in the physical world. If you talk, it’ll be registered through the ear plug as well. If you want to see something or transmit an image you’ll always be able to use any random screen (=camera, as they’re always connected) or pull out and unroll a piece of e-paper. Payment will be through biometric recognition (voice, iris or finger print). So you can go outside without bringing anything at all. No key, no wallet, no cell phone. Not in 2008, not in 2015, but in 2025 we’ll have come a long way towards this already.

In this movie, Dr Quantum explains the difference between matter and waves. We all know that there's a connection between mass and waves through Einstein's famous formula. (E = mc²; energy = mass times the speed of light (3,00 x 100.000.000 meter per second) squared, and that mass and energy are directly related. That means simply that every element in the universe, every planet, every piece of life, every plant, every animal, and so also mankind exists solely out of energy. Einstein already showed that mass is a slowed form of energy, like a traffic jam on a high way.

If energy in its turn exists exclusively out of waves, we deal with a permanent change. With as a consequence that our human body is far from static, but the result of a group of waves that chances constantly and is entwined for 80 years like a coil of many strands of ropes. Strands that come out of our body and continuously make invisible contact with others. Then the waves unbraid, carry on and a human disappears like there never was anything at all.

Sony uses "People, Planet, Product" in its communication. Nicely chosen. You have the world. That's the Planet. As well as other life there are humans, People, mainly important to ourselves. Together we make products (the ultimate form of co-operation between all the people of the world). The phrase "the product of our labors" is well chosen. We consume the products. By consuming ever more we change the world, the circle is complete. Simple.

Humans think in images and concepts but not in written language. Very rarely does someone see something literally written in their thoughts. We dream in 'happenings'. Now that the virtual world has come into existence it is possible that in the long term (think 2050) a world will come into existence where 'reading' and 'writing' has evolved into a hobby. Something that people needed to do in the past but that's now just fun to learn, just like making clogs, crocheting or milking cows.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

When you stroll through Belgian cities Gent or Brugge, you feel like you're in a fairy tale. Everything seems to fit. Only after some time has passed, you realize why everything seems to fit so well. The original thought of the developers and architects are untouched. The view of the city is very carefully protected. Billboards, signs, striking shop windows or even posters are forbidden. And the result is beautiful.

In this era, in which information is always available for everybody, in which we ourselves determine what brands are allowed to interrupt our lives, in which everything is taken care of for us, advertising is unnecessary. Businesses won't need advertising to flourish any longer. They will find other ways to bring together producing and consuming roles. This means the end of advertising. Street view wise, this will mean that cities can become as beautiful as Gent again. First we will need a generation that is used to function without advertising though, which moreover will forbid outdoor advertising. This generation hasn't been born yet, so it will at least be 2050 before we will get here. After all, even the youngest generation is still regularly tipped through advertising (like flyers), and thus is still valuing advertising. After that we will really start thinking about city views again. At the end of this century a lot will have changed.

At a forum in Sydney about the future of Search Engine Marketing somebody from the audience asked Google Australia's General Manager: 'When will Google start to not only show search results, but also the protocol that is used to generate the search results?' The Google manager a little giggly answered that of course that isn't possible, although they are working on other forms of openness. I however do think this is possible, and to take it even further: Google will have to do this.

Japanese company Ns-elex has developed a new device that will allow people to "speak" through their ear so they can use their mobile telephones in noisy places. The device doubles as an earphone and a microphone by detecting air vibrations inside the ear. (al). In the future the audio part of our virtual world experience will be built in our heads. We will carry invisible audio-devices in our ears, serving as speakers as well as microphones. Outside sounds they will of course allow in, if we choose to permit that. This way we can zoom in to every conversation, even from a far distance. It will be no problem to have a conversation with somebody sitting on the other side of a bar. And even when no vibrations are reaching our ears any more, we transfer to a virtual world, to still be able to talk. Soon we will be helpless without our 'audio boosters', or whatever we will decide to call these devices.

With all our consciousness, intelligence, emotional intelligence, even spiritual intelligence, humanity has forever left the animal kingdom. We control our own future. So we have to do something about global warming. After all, we're responsible!

But maybe you should see the earth as a big ball of energy and people as microscopic flames that light up for a moment and then die (be born and die). And that all those small flames heat up other energy sources. Like stars that shoot their sparks everywhere. Often without any influence, but sometimes a single spark can start a huge fire. And maybe there are so many flames (up to 9 billion people) created because the earth is heating up (there are already more flames) instead of the other way around. Not through better health care, more safety or better food. That's our rationalization of the whole.

Maybe it's wired differently from ho we believe. Than we hope perhaps. If we look at it from energy, from the size of the universe, we see the insignificance of the earth, and the insignificance of human beings. Below the grandness of the earth in a shitty perspective.