What is the truth about Omicron?  What does Omicron mean for our world?

For over two decades before COVID-19 hit the world I warned of risks from new viral pandemics.

And since COVID-19 emerged, I warned repeatedly that we should continue to expect significant new variants to emerge, at a rate of maybe around one significant variant per 100 million new infections.  So Omicron is no surprise.

And many of my COVID forecasts have turned out to be correct - see elsewhere on this site. Firstly, we need to see Omicron as part of a wider picture....

(Article written 1st December 2021 - World AIDS Day. AIDS is caused by HIV, just another virus that jumped unexpectedly from animals to humans, but in the case of HIV, we still have no vaccine after 35 years of trying to develop one, nor any curative treatments.  My own medical practice was overwhelmed by HIV / AIDS in 1987 which is why I have been so sensitised to risks of more pandemics.)

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including the impact of AI on future health care.

Just as I predicted several years ago, we have seen billions won and lost in a gamble on volatile prices of BitCoin, without really understanding BitCoin limitations.

Here are some facts about BitCoin that will limit its future:

- It takes 94,000 kw hours at the time of writing to produce a single BitCoin

- 159 different nations use less power each year than BitCoin mining!

- That’s more power on this experiment last year than 2 billion of the poorest people used – 1 billion of which have no access to a national grid

- A single BitCoin transaction, logged in a BlockChain, burns up as much energy as your home for a week – so forget about using BitCoins as a global day-to-day currency

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including the impact of AI on energy consumption globally, banking, payment systems including BitCoin.

Compliance with regulation really matters. However, as many bankers discovered, 100% compliance with every law may keep you out of prison but cannot protect your brand or reputation, or build trust. You can comply perfectly with every banking or environmental regulation in every country in every year, but that will not help you when public mood changes.

A scandal happens, which is followed by a public reaction, which leads to new regulations, new compliance rules. These compliance requirements are interpreted by lawyers, who try to work out what it means. And then your compliance teams turn it into another box-ticking exercise, to check you really are compliant.

But you are only complying with history...so what should companies do now?

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including the impact of AI on regulations, compliance, banking and financial services.

Neuromarketing is a controversial area of market research that uses neuropsychology to study consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, affective  and emotional responses to marketing stimuli. There are various methods of watching the brain "think" or process stimuli, and all these are being used in hospitals to diagnose various conditions.  Combined with AI / Artificial Intelligence, neuromarketing takes digital marketing tools to a whole new level.

Neuromarketing techniques include tracking eye movements, EEG (cap on head),  watching for changes in facial expressions, functional MRI brain scans (watch areas light up as different parts of the brain are more or less excited), watching pupil size.  

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including the impact of AI on marketing including neuromarketing.