The phrase "By 2030, you will own nothing and you will be happy" is often attributed to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and has sparked significant debate and controversy. What does it mean to you? Does it predict a utopian or a dystopian future or neither - and why?
Do you know how the phrase originated or when? If not, can you take a guess?
“Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better," is the title of an
essay published in 2016. In it the author, who is Danish, envisioned a future where urban residents rely on shared services rather than owning personal possessions. What do you think it was about the time and
the place that led him to such a prediction?
If he had been living in the United States do you think he would have written the same essay? If not, why not?
One of the things this idea suggests is a subscription-based economy: A shift toward renting or subscribing to goods and services instead of owning them outright. This model is already evident in industries like software (e.g., SaaS), transportation (e.g., ride-sharing), and housing. More recently, this has also started with clothing. If you've used any of these services, how has that worked for you? Would you like to see it extended to other areas of the economy and if so, which ones?
Another possibility would be a group of friends or community coming together to share resources. For example, a group of women or men could get together to form a kind of fashion library to which everybody contributed clothes which anyone could borrow. Does this appeal to you? If so, why? If not, why not?
Do you think this is in an inevitable trend? If so, what do you think makes people less and less interested in ownership?
The idea also became the tagline of a widely distributed video.
Here are other predictions included in the video:
The US won't be the world’s leading superpower.
A handful of countries will dominate.
You won't die waiting for an organ donor. Organs won't be transplanted; they will be printed.
You'll eat much less meat - an occasional treat, not a staple, for the good of the environment and our health.
1 billion people will be displaced by climate change.
We'll have to do a better job welcoming and integrating refugees.
Polluters will have to pay to emit carbon dioxide.
There will be a global tax on carbon. This will make fossil fuels history.
You could be preparing to go to Mars.
Scientists will figure out how to keep you healthy in space. It could be the start of a journey to find alien life.
Western values will have been tested to the breaking point.
Checks and balances that underpin our democracies must not be forgotten.
How relevant does each of these seem to you now?