The Future is about to start!

Time is subjective - the apparent rate is related to the density of events. So when there is lots happening, time rushes by, whilst when you are waiting for something to happen, then time can seem to creep by...

This subjectiveness also applies to groupings of time like The Past and The Future. I've deliberately avoided trying to apply any measure of how long 'Now' is because I think that it is normally so fleeting that it is almost just the membrane that separates Past from Future. Of course, if you don't have any significant events, then Now can be used to show the current 'state of the art', but as soon as you get any event, then it immediately becomes The Past.

The other aspect to subjectivity is knowledge and viewpoint. This particularly affects The Future. If you are living on the leading edge of technology, then your Now might be viewed as being The Future by many people who are slightly behind the leading edge. This was highlighted very strongly for me when I read the final report on 'Future Digital Content' that has just been published by the 'Beacons For Innovation' project in the UK's 'Knowledge Transfer Network for the Creative Industries', from the UK Government-funded 'Technology Strategy Board'. If you hadn't heard of the Technology Strategy Board, then their web-site provides this explanation:

The Technology Strategy Board is an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), established by the Government in 2007 and sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The activities of the Technology Strategy Board are jointly supported and funded by BIS and other government departments, the devolved administrations, regional development agencies and research councils.

The 'Future Digital Content' report is very much from the viewpoint of the Creative Industry, and makes interesting reading when you have 'subjectivity' in mind. Much of what it covers as Future seems like Now to me, but then I've spent the last ten years or more looking at the future of content, and so my viewpoint is very skewed. But it is fascinating to see how you can have different views of Now and The Future.

It is also fascinating to see how words and structure can get in the way of comprehension. I didn't know that the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) had changed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) until I head about the Technology Strategy Board (whose web-site URL stresses innovation!), and I now think of these things using a more familiar metaphor: the 'breadcrumb trail' that you see for navigation on some web-sites:

UK Government>DBIS>Technology Strategy Board>KTN-Creative Industries>Beacons>Report