The Future and Importance of Storytelling
Storytelling 2030
Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of being human. From the time of the Neanderthals, our unique ability to craft stories has been more crucial than physical strength. In the modern era, our narratives are shaped by media such as news, books, films, and television, all now products of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, we are swiftly transitioning into a technological revolution. AI and frontier technologies will not operate as humans do, and there is no reason to believe that storytelling in the future will resemble the way it does today.
Our Lenses
We can view storytelling as a microcosm of what we can expect for a future dominated by frontier technologies, but it also reflects key considerations. It remains an essential aspect, particularly as we observe exponential trends in computing power, dematerialisation, connectivity, and globalisation. These technologies are becoming increasingly general-purpose, leading us towards a future that is immersive, persistent, predictive, personalised, and directed. We must view our future through this lens, understanding how these technological trends will shape the way we live and interact.
The Importance of Controlling Storytelling
While storytelling may not immediately appear as critical as foundational elements such as finance, government, and education, our ability to convey information in a compelling way is perhaps our most powerful tool. Storytelling, whether rooted in fact or fiction, often intertwines facts with opinions, blurring the distinctions between them.
The dramatic impact of social media did not lie in its disruption of traditional storytelling channels - whether for entertainment, news, or community engagement. It fundamentally altered the speed and creation of content, how quickly it can be changed, and by the creators themselves. This has shifted who has control and has had profound implications that we are still grappling with.
As technology-driven storytelling continues to evolve and gain widespread adoption, our regulatory bodies are already struggling to keep pace or merely getting distracted by isolated components like deepfakes, preventing them from seeing the real picture.
Transforming Storytelling
Already, these new technologies are revolutionising storytelling in transformative ways. For instance, we could break down film production into four key stages, identifying technologies that have the potential to completely disrupt each step:
Imagination: ChatGPT can come up with stories, while Sora and Midjourney create the short videos to see our imagination in action.
Creation: ChatGPT can write screenplays, help with dialogue, and optimise filming schedules. Avatars like Miquela, combined with Sora and Midjourney, can act in scenes. Unreal Engine can generate realistic environments.
Dissemination: Modern communication technologies, such as 5G, Starlink, and cloud services, allow for streaming films anywhere. Quantum computing may soon personalise scenes for individual viewers.
Consumption: AR/VR devices like the Apple Vision Pro offer fully immersive film experiences. Technologies like Neuralink could adjust or influence our emotions in real-time based on what we are watching.
All these technologies reduce costs and improve efficiencies. As they evolve to become more immersive, persistent, predictive, and personalised, they pose an intriguing question: will we become the story?
Do We Become the Story?
This concept can be interpreted in two distinct ways. Firstly, it envisions a fully immersive experience – through powerful AR/VR, or even integrated human devices, where these experiences are persistent – constantly connected via the cloud and instant global communications, and highly personalised – achieved through instantly adjustable scenes and avatars enhanced by sophisticated matching technologies powered by quantum computing. This creates unique, tailor-made experiences for each of us, in which we are impressively involved. While this could be an almost ideal future for storytelling, it also raises concerns about potential privacy and addictive qualities. We are a witness or a proactive part of the story.
Secondly, where the experiences extend to include predictive and directive technologies, they not only entertain but also have the potential to influence our thoughts and our actions. This extension would clearly have significant dystopian qualities. We are the objective of the story.
Our Role at EdenBase
At EdenBase, our primary focus is investing in the application of the emerging technologies shaping the future. We view the application layer as the primary source of value in technological transformations. For each industry, we work hard to continuously analyse the potential evolution of each component through our specific lenses (as mentioned above). We also reflect on the possible transformations of their foundational layers to identify and invest in solutions that leverage these shifts. As the technology-first future is rapidly unfolding, often unnoticed, it is our collective responsibility to help lay the new foundations that will benefit as many people as possible.
We achieve both of these goals by actively building and engaging with our community, our own thought leadership, and learning with industry experts. It was a privilege for us to attend the Hollywood Professional Association's annual event in Palm Springs this February. There, we had the opportunity to discuss with executives, explore their use of new technologies, and I was honoured to deliver the keynote on AI and participate in the 'after dark' discussion hosted by the HPA President.
We firmly believe that our unique cultures, societies, and collective knowledge must be integral to the structures being built with these new technologies. Storytelling, in particular, remains a vital tool in this.