
A look into the crystal ball of science and data to prepare for the post-pandemic year

“Only the unknown scares people,” said the French poet, journalist, novelist, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This is why we cannot help predicting the uncertain future through patterns, connecting even the most disparate dots to create order and find meaning in our random universe. No one predicted that 2020 would turn out the way it did. For that reason, more than ever, we try to look forward to tomorrow so that we can face it in the best way possible. Then there’s the fact that speculating about the future is also humanity’s greatest past time.
The year 2022 is a downward struggle with the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the stock market plummeting towards the second financial crisis, and the unrelenting Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to elevate everyone’s life. Trend forecasting and analytics company WGSN, however, found that Gen Zs are optimistic about 2023, calling it a year of strength and recovery.
Here are important trends based on online studies by futurists and other professionals in their respective fields, so that we can better understand and make the most of the coming year.
Our phygital: Bridging tech and man
The coronavirus has accelerated our transition to the digital age, pushing forward a great step in innovations and developments, from augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) to artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of of things (IoT), and other transformative technologies, which work around the restrictions of lockdowns. With the industry booming, it’s an exciting time to be involved in the technology space.

Machine learning or AI, in particular, is a hot topic today, touching on everything from chatbots to self-driving cars, and even art, a controversial topic today with AI-generated works that have received flak from artists around the world, the likes of Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro.
Fashion is your friend. —Martin Zweig
Experts also see that the metaverse will become more immersive this year in the fields of entertainment, gaming, retail, and communication. This is not surprising, considering the increased interest in the virtual concept from last year.
The direction, therefore, is for businesses to adopt AI and create “intelligent businesses,” where processes and systems work together to facilitate tasks.
In addition, in the Philippines, business speaker Francis Kong doubled down on the importance of caring for people, honoring talents and creative thinking in this modern world based on numbers.

In the midst of the health crisis, employers have seen a large movement of talents called silent resignations and the massive resignation of workers who are reassessing the impact of their jobs on what what they want to get in their life. Companies that offer an engaging work environment, culture, flexibility, growth and learning opportunities, and focus on value will come out on top.
Finally, because of its efficiency, hybrid and remote work is here to stay.
Food for thought
People are now more health conscious because of Covid-19. The plant-based industry remains relevant with Datassential’s 2023 Food Trends revealing that 40 percent of consumers plan to purchase plant-based meat products by 2023.
In the Philippines, Filipinos are becoming more interested in food. Diners also value reliability over shortcuts, which means slow food and fine dining will be even more in demand than last year. This does not mean that nostalgic and feel-good foods are gone.

Green is inside
The world is increasingly grappling with familiar—sometimes all too familiar—challenges like sustainability. Our biggest problem, second only to the pandemic, is to stop carbon emissions to keep the worsening climate crisis from reaching the point of no return.
From the latest methods of recycling and manufacturing electric vehicles to new methods of transportation and carbon capture, the desire for technological solutions for a cleaner world became more desperate.
According to futurist and author Bernard Marr, corporations must ensure that their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) processes are moved to the center of their strategy.
We can count on the continued development of green hydrogen, a new clean-burning energy source that produces almost zero greenhouse gas emissions. Two major European energy companies, RWE and Shell, are building the first major green pipeline from wind plants in the North Sea.
On the other hand, the growth of youth in the Philippines is climate activism with young environmental rebels leading the charge for climate justice and solutions to climate disasters.
Meanwhile, the Philippine government is working to resolve issues that delay the wider application of renewable energy technologies, facilitate the participation of the private sector, and encourage investment in the development of renewable energy sources through the comprehensive National Renewable Energy Program.
In travel, ecotourism is hot in the country, bringing in a gross income of $9.31 billion in 2019. It remains an ever-growing aspect of the tourism landscape.
Small but luxe
And since AI is already here, the chief marketing officer of the Canadian communications company Mitel, Venkat Nagaswamy, believes that the said expert system will replace content oriented search engine optimization (SEO), “We’ll have too much content for a few years, and eventually we’ll go back to basics, focusing on higher quality but lower volume content,” he said.
So writers, use your skills! You may entertain the possibility that good writing raises the white flag of clickbait, fake news, sensationalism, anti-intellectualism, and non-writers stirring the pot, but it doesn’t. Quality is above all else. This is for all seasons. Even the dumbest of readers realize that they have better things to do with their time than scroll through a sea of lies, attention-seeking, wantonness, and really bad English.
What lies ahead is uncertainty, and so we can only count on good things.
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