Telepathy, Teleportation & the Future.

“The Belcerebon people used to cause great resentment and insecurity amongst neighbouring races by being one of the most enlightened, accomplished, and above all quiet civilizations in the Galaxy.

As a punishment for this behaviour, which was held to be offensively self-righteous and provocative, a galactic tribunal inflicted on them that most cruel of all social diseases, telepathy. Consequently, in order to prevent themselves broadcasting every slightest thought that crosses their minds to anyone within a five-mile radius, they now have to talk very loudly and continuously about the weather, their little aches and pains, the match this afternoon and what a noisy place Kakrafoon has suddenly become.”

A portion of the poster for the 2005 film adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." (Image credit: Disney)

When Douglas Adams wrote this in 1979 mobile phones were just four years away from becoming commercially available. In those days we sat on landlines for hours chatting to a trusted friend from the comfort of an armchair.

This behaviour was well regarded as it wasn’t bothering anyone.

Mobile phones went mass in the Nineties, then people’s behaviour started to change radically. By the Noughties we’d gone full on Jerry McGuire and by the time of the smartphone and earbuds we’d become effectively telepathic as a species. We started to love speaking in groups as well as one on one, we started to ‘live in public’.  If I’d have sent an opinionated email to everyone in the world in 1995, I might expect a couple of negative replies. 

Yet these days we feel trolled if someone doesn’t like a thought we’re sharing globally.

A new sort of telepathy was one of the advertising insights for Vodafone comms in the noughties, but it never took off because it never really ended up being a positive message.

The truth is something as convenient as telepathy (or social media) will always come with its own inconveniences.

The real insight is that the form of the future is never quite what we think it will be; culturally at least. 

The future isn’t about what products or powers you think might come to exist. It’s about how humans will behave, think and feel as the people of the world become more technologically adept. 

Teleportation is next after telepathy, but don’t invest your money in tech that disintegrates objects ‘Star Trek style’ and moves them from place to place. It seems it’s possible, but it takes way too much power. 

Invest in holographic tech instead.

Meta just bought RayBan and people are fast getting used to being in virtual meetings rather than real life ones. So let’s think about it in terms of behaviours. Just look at the guy with the earbuds pacing up and down the street gesturing wildly, deep in conversation. In 1992 people would have thought he’s a madman; today he’s just on a call.

In the near future we’ll all be in meetings using RayBans to see 3D versions of our colleagues chatting in real time. We’ll sit around a virtual boardroom table and walk around the room looking at work on the walls. But in ‘reality’ you’ll be at home, in the garden, or even in the street acting out in one spot. And it won’t seem weird in our FMCG reality.

So think about the future you, acting out in one spot, while attending meetings all over the world. Maybe 7 meetings across 7 continents in a single day. To all intents and purposes you’ll be more present there than where you are. 

Which reality matters most?

There will be no need to physically teleport to that meeting in that country, because you’ll be there anyway, interacting with most of your senses and everyone will remember you being there, what you did there and their experience of you. You might even be wearing logos like a racing driver for the free version!

But why is any of this important? 

It’s important because telepathy and teleportation are dreams of convenience, and the ‘reality’ only happens when we realise this convenience through technology. We can start to think of ourselves as the medium through which tech is happening, rather than tech happening to us. 

We are the culture that is changing. And the ‘future’ is simply where that culture is heading - where we’d like it to go.

Traditional media started out as small ads in the papers in the 17th century, it took off with a boom in the 19th century transforming into posters, press and eventually TV in the 20th century. Social media in the 21st century is the turning point where we are no longer asked to turn towards (latin. Ad Vertere) posters and press.

We have become the medium through which advertising flows in our virtual socially mediated groups. And we don’t get paid - yet.

Media is no longer linear to be consumed, it is you and I on Facebook or LinkedIn - we have become the medium through which ‘ads’ or at least commercial messages are flowing and circling the individual.

Our data attracts the messages and what we buy creates more. We are individually interacting totally with all the brands, products and services in our lives while more of them attempt to get into the minutes in our days.

Once we start to think of ourselves, our behaviours and purchases, as the medium through which commerce is shaped and commercial messages are formed, then we can begin to see where functional value can be generated.

At FIT, we look at people - certainly as ‘consumers’ and ‘users’ - but we look at people more deeply, how they fit into cultural norms, what they want & need from your brand, product or service. Then we look at how your brand can fit more into their lives. This is how your brand impacts popular culture.

In a world where individuals and groups are increasingly shaping your business, we help reframe and nudge culture - with you - working to shape better future experiences for your customers and your brand.

And we’ve been doing this for quite a long time.

The future is where culture is heading. It’s where people are heading and our functional integrated thinking helps guide that. 

After all it’s not about external ads anymore, it’s about you, your product experience, plus your audience, making the world a better place, with an eye on a better future.

FIT is a new kind of creative strategy company that unites media, customer, product and brand.
FIT puts your customer at the centre of the developing digital world.