Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Ultimate Knowledge?

What would the ultimate information system give the business?
Would it be information about the future?

If we could see the future coming, would this be ultimate knowledge?

This week Ian Kendrick presents on Scenario Thinking.

On this topic, please see the following. The notes are Ian's.

"Quantum Leap..." Peter Schwartz (prime mover in future thinking/scenario work and co-founder of Global Business Networks) co- authored this article/scenario on the future of computing.

"Why the future doesn't need us...... " Don't know if you saw Horizon this week on the emergence of Human 2.0. It included major references and interviews with Ray Kurzweil, author of "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and inventor of lots of stuff. Much of the ground covered by Horizon was also in an article by Bill Joy (Chief Computer Scientist & co-founder of Sun Microsystems), published in Wired Magazine (when it was far more heavyweight than today's comic) in 2000. It caused a major stir at the time, coming from such a respected individual.


Also, an important article that relates more generally to what you learn here, and elsewhere in the MBA, concerns Jack Welch & GE. Remember the video that Phil Drinkwater played you in week 1? Well, have a look at "Tearing up the Playbook...." Jack Welch's business rules are being challenged from some unexpected directions. Fortune Magazine published this piece earlier this year:

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