Instead of giving himself a challenge, Zuckerberg has made some predictions for what the next decade might entail – and they give us a big insight into where he thinks the world of tech is headed.
Each New Year, Mark Zuckerberg gives himself a new ‘personal challenge,’ and they’re always lofty in their ambition.
“Zuck’s past “personal challenges” have included learning Mandarin Chinese (2010), building a bespoke AI system for his home à la Tony Stark (2016), and go to every U.S. state to visit with people—prompting rumors he was going to run for president (2017).”
As highlighted by Fast Company, his 2019 pledge to discuss the future impact of technology on our society with “leaders, experts and people in our community” didn’t really work – he only spoke to eight white men and one white woman.
Maybe this failure is why he’s decided to ditch the challenge this year – and presumably for the next ten years.
Instead of giving himself a challenge, Zuckerberg has made some predictions for what the next decade might entail – and they give us a big insight into where he thinks the world of tech is headed.
In a Facebook post, he wrote:
“So while I’m glad I did annual challenges over the last decade, it’s time to do something different. This decade I’m going to take a longer term focus. Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I’ve tried to think about what I hope the world and my life will look in 2030 so I can make sure I’m focusing on those things. By then, if things go well, my daughter Max will be in high school, we’ll have the technology to feel truly present with another person no matter where they are, and scientific research will have helped cure and prevent enough diseases to extend our average life expectancy by another 2.5 years.”
He made many other predictions for the end of the decade:
“By the end of this decade, I expect more institutions will be run by millennials and more policies will be set to address these problems with longer term outlooks.”
As the current generation of millennials gets older, this of course seems like a safe bet. It’s obvious, but it’s also true.
He also predicted something that many others are beginning to claim – that social media, over the next five to ten years, will become more intimate:
“Our digital social environments will feel very different over the next 5+ years, re-emphasizing private interactions and helping us build the smaller communities we all need in our lives”
It’s an interesting pushback against the public airing of our private lives which social media entails.
On tech, Zuckerberg thinks that smartphones will soon no longer be the dominant tech gadget on the market, claiming that they’ll be overtaken by augmented reality glasses.
This is a common perception. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google are all working on their own AR specs. Zuckerberg points out that AR could allow us to be “present” anywhere:
Today, many people feel like they have to move to cities because that’s where the jobs are. But there isn’t enough housing in many cities, so housing costs are skyrocketing while quality of living is decreasing. Imagine if you could live anywhere you chose and access any job anywhere else.
But among all the predictions, what’s most clear is that, if billionaire Zuckerberg can give up on NYE resolutions, so too can you. So don’t feel guilty for breaking yours already.