How long until I'm irrelevant?

Dinosaur roaming in Alberta
Originally uploaded by FrankMaurer

Chris Brogan posted some really good thoughts on the future of social media consultancies, like iJump.

It stimulated some thoughts I've been thinking to life, so I commented. Like this:

I totally agree with your sentiments here. I’m a bit confused - as probably a lot of people are - as to how to put this into practice.

I can indeed see the day when just about everything we’re doing today as a consultancy becomes irrelevant, because our job will be done. This makes it kind of difficult to plan ahead, because who knows what we’ll be doing then?

It also consolidates some thoughts I’m having about early adopters and the problems that happen when systems actually work well (people stop innovating). We kind of need more brokenness to stay unsatisfied enough to keep up with the latest.

Digressing wildly, it reminds me of an interview I heard with the author of a book on Melancholy, which, unlike depression, can be a tremendously creative force.

Just thinking out loud here. Thanks for being the catalyst, Chris!

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There are also some great other comments on the post, too. I promise I'll post soon about what I mean about why being an early adopter can be a problem. Or have I already said enough? Some people say I am too concise... though always in writing, never in person! :)

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Update: David MacGregor has an excellent quote on this very subject (kind of):

"Through history we se an ironic process that Hegel or Marx would have appreciated; a dialectic whereby the success of a culture develops within itself its own antithesis. The more more well-off we become, the less reason we have to look for change, and hence the more exposed we become to outside forces. The result of creativity is its own negation."

See more here!