The Industries of the Future Quotes

“there is no greater indicator of an innovative culture than the empowerment of women.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“the next wave will challenge middle classes across the globe, threatening to return many to poverty. The previous wave saw entire countries and societies lifted up economically. The next wave will take frontier economies and bring them into the economic mainstream while challenging the middle classes in the most developed economies.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Not only does Japan have an economic need and the technological know-how for robots, but it also has a cultural predisposition. The ancient Shinto religion, practiced by 80 percent of Japanese, includes a belief in animism, which holds that both objects and human beings have spirits. As a result, Japanese culture tends to be more accepting of robot companions as actual companions than is Western culture, which views robots as soulless machines. In a culture where the inanimate can be considered to be just as alive as the animate, robots”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Big data is transitioning from a tool primarily for targeted advertising to an instrument with profound applications for diverse corporate sectors and for addressing chronic social problems.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“The near future will see robot suits that allow paraplegics to walk, designer drugs that melt away certain forms of cancer, and computer code being used as both an international currency and a weapon to destroy physical infrastructure halfway around the world.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“venture capital funding in robotics is growing at a steep rate. It more than doubled in just three years, from $160 million in 2011 to $341 million in 2014.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Serendipity fades with everything we hand over to algorithms. Most of these algorithms are noiseless. They gently guide us in our choices. But we don’t know why we are being guided in certain directions or how these algorithms work. And because they constitute the value of a company’s intellectual property, there is an incentive to keep them opaque to us.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“My grandfather understood one of the curious conundrums of globalization: exposure creates not only opportunity but competition, and it can make us question and eventually lose our standing in the world.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“That is why China is not just relying on forced urbanization to produce low-cost labor; it is also investing heavily in the industries of the future. There needs to be investment in growing fields like robotics but also a social framework that makes sure those who are losing their jobs are able to stay afloat long enough to pivot to the industries or positions that offer new possibilities.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Private companies now collect and sell as many as 75,000 individual data points about the average American consumer.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“the market for consumer robots could hit $390 billion by 2017, and industrial robots should hit $40 billion in 2020. As”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“The African Robotics Network (AFRON) offers a good model. A community of individuals and institutions, AFRON hosts events and projects to boost robotics-related education, research, and industry on the continent. Through initiatives like its 10 Dollar Robot Challenge, AFRON encourages the development of extremely low-cost robotics education.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“The obligation of those in positions of power and privilege is to shape our policies to extend the opportunities that will come with the industries of the future to as many people as possible.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Ironically, in a world growing more virtual, it has never been more important to get as many ink stamps in your passport as possible.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Our ability to develop successful programs in the region took advantage of the fact that we were fluent in both the technology and the local language and culture.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Creating opportunities for individuals is only the first stage -- the real promise is empowering individuals to leave a lasting impact on their own communities and countries.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“With 54 sovereign countries that make it as diverse as any continent on earth, Africa is difficult to characterize with any single sweeping statement.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Computer language is just another language with its own grammar; it just happens to be much more logical than French.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“And they came to be included in a culture and community that placed the computer science engineer at the highest level of social status.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“H. G. Wells, “Adapt or perish.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“In tomorrow’s workplace, either the human is telling the robot what to do or the robot is telling the human what to do. Children”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“And most big data programs do a poor job of identifying which correlations are more or less likely to be spurious. The use of big data to draw inferences that should be evaluated and tested is often neglected in favor of using big data to produce real-time transactions—”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Who owns the data is as important a question as who owned the land during the agricultural age and who owned the factory during the industrial age. Data is the raw material of the information age. DUMB”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Shimba Technologies, developed a mobile medical directory and “knowledge app,” MedAfrica, to address the health challenges in its home country, where there are only 7,000 registered doctors in a country of 40 million people. The World Bank puts the doctor per 1,000 person ratio of Kenya at 0.2; in the United States, that number is more than ten times larger—2.4 as of 2010. To”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“biggest wins from new technology will go to the societies and firms that don’t just double down on the past but that can adapt and direct their citizens toward industries that are growing.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Americans collectively drive approximately 3 trillion miles per year, and more than 30,000 people die in the process. Worldwide, those statistics are enormous; approximately 1.3 million people die every year in car crashes. Google,”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“Our most valued commodities have gone from salt and sugar to chemicals and fuels to data and services.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“The last trillion-dollar industry was built on a code of 1s and 0s. The next will be built on our own genetic code.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future

“When leaders wonder what they can do to position their societies for the industries of the future, they need to open up and resist control-freak tendencies. The 21st century is a terrible time to be a control freak; future grown depends on empowering people.”
― Alec J. Ross, The Industries of the Future