Shift Happens

Last week at the Science Generation conference, CNN science editor Miles O'Brien enthused to us about a slide/video presentation called "Shift Happens" (the actual title is "Did You Know" but it looks like everyone refers to the final message in the presentation) and used a few slides to provoke discussion from the early morning panel he moderated.

I finally got a chance to view the entire presentation and it is provocative and startling. It started out as a powerpoint show for teachers in Littleton, Colorado, but has morphed into a video on YouTube and other online sources, with animations and music that has been viewed millions of times.

For example, did you know:

• the U.S. is 20th in the world in broadband penetration (Luxemburg recently passed us)
• the top jobs expected in 2010 did not exist in 2004
• 40 exabytes (10 to the 19th) of unique new information will be generated worldwide this year

There's a lot more there about the U.S. in the global framework.