TRANSCRIPT
Hi there. This is Graeme Codrington for Throw Forward Thursday. And today we’re looking at the oceans look quite the way that you expect. I don’t know how far forward we have to throw before we begin to see people living on, in and under the ocean. It might not even be in the century in a big way, but I really do believe that it is part of humanity’s future on this planet.
In the week that I’m recording this in August 2021, we’ve seen the United Nations released their latest climate change and weather reports, and it’s not good news. We knew already that human beings were causing climate change to accelerate. And we know that we are nearing tipping points and edges of no return that will see sea levels rise, extreme weather become more prevalent and see our future change in terms of where we can love successfully on planet Earth. One of the places that we need to be thinking about is the ocean covers 70% of the world’s surface, and we actually know less about the flow of the ocean than we do about the surface of the moon.
It is probably human kinds last major discovery horizon that we haven’t been to, and we’re going to unlock a hold of secrets to the ocean as we do that with underwater robotics.
There’s a huge conference coming up later this year in the UK, as the UK government has put millions of pounds into underwater robotics as they see this as the way forward. But I’m throwing well forward beyond that to, as I say, sometimes a few decades, maybe even into the next century, as we see human beings living in under the learning to gather harvests from the sea in sustainable ways and using the sea as a place for us to live. Fabian Cousteau actually did this already back in 2014.
The grandson of yes, that Jacques Cousteau, the great and the sea Explorer, lived for 31 days straight underwater off of Key Largo in the United States. And he was doing research and he was trying to prove that living under the ocean is possible.
And as I say, that was 2014. And we know that it’s possible. We know that there are dangers involved. We know that it takes at the moment probably too many resources to live on or under the sea, more resources than it saves us. So, it’s not really worth it at the moment.
But if our future is sadly, as we anticipated to be, we’re going to have to do a better job of living, as I say, or under the ocean. And that’s what I think we’re going to be able to do. We’ll see if that happens in our lifetimes or not to Forward Thursday. Not always practical, but always about the future. If you would like to make some suggestions about topics for us to have a look at, we’ve launched a new website, it’s called Ask About the Future. Dot com or one word, askaboutthefuture.com, and you can give us some suggestions of what you’d like our team to investigate, research and cover here on Throw Forward Thursdays.
Otherwise, simply make sure that you subscribe. If you’re on YouTube, hit the notification Bell in the corner there just to make sure you reminded every Thursday to check out what we’re doing.
If you’re listening on Graeme Codrington’s Future of Work podcast, make sure you subscribe. And if you’ve got a few minutes, also rate us on your favourite podcast platform, we really appreciate it.
I will see you again next week when we take another trip into the future. Maybe next week we’ll be a little bit closer to home. We’ll see.
Graeme Codrington, is an internationally recognized futurist, specializing in the future of work. He helps organizations understand the forces that will shape our lives in the next ten years, and how we can respond in order to confidently stay ahead of change. Chat to us about booking Graeme to help you Re-Imagine and upgrade your thinking to identify the emerging opportunities in your industry.
For the past two decades, Graeme has worked with some of the world’s most recognized brands, travelling to over 80 countries in total, and speaking to around 100,000 people every year. He is the author of 5 best-selling books, and on faculty at 5 top global business schools.