Innovation and Community. Located on the campus of NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, one of the world’s great epicenters of innovation, SU offers educational programs for corporations, entrepreneurs, NGOs and government leaders. It’s all a bit futuristic and a bit scary. But looking backwards gives us an indication of what to expect looking forwards. Take Kodak which had 170,000 employees in 1998 and sold 85 per cent of all photo paper worldwide. Within a few years they were bankrupt. Who would have said a few years ago that Uber would be the largest taxi company and yet not own a car. Or that Airbnb would be the biggest hotel company and not own any properties. To illustrate my ignorance further, I had never heard of a game called “Go” which originated in ancient China 2500 years ago and has over 40 million players, mostly in East Asia. The game is more complex than chess. On February 10 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue beat world chess champion, Garry Kasparov – the first time a machine had beaten a human. But Kasparov won the series. IBM did some upgrades and in the rematch in 1997, Kasparov was beaten. This year a computer beat the world’s best Go player such is the advancement in artificial intelligence. We know the threats facing retailers – especially the challenge of dealing with the internet and global retail making local retail very tough. But who would have thought that lawyers are under threat? IBM’s Watson can provide legal advice in seconds with 90 per cent accuracy compared to 70 per cent accuracy by humans (which takes a lot longer). And Watson helps nurses diagnose cancer four times more accurately than doctors. And so the list goes on. The demise of conventional cars with Tesla’s pioneering work plus Apple and Google looking to get in on the act with driverless cars, is yet another example. Some of us thought that wars would be fought over water. But Solar energy will have a huge impact on water desalination. The humanities were a last ditch attempt to stay the progress of technology. “Become a lawyer or a doctor my son, and technology will never replace you”. But that is simply wrong. And if you think that if all else fails you can enter the wonderful world of retail, think again. By 2027, 10 per cent of everything that’s being produced will be 3D-printed.  So design your shoes or shirts or anything else you choose and they will be made to fit like a glove and you will receive them delivered to your door by that drone we spoke about a week or two ago. And if that isn’t bad enough, remember that your sales team will all be robotic and able to answer the customer’s questions with incredible accuracy and not moan about penalty rates. Is there anything worse than a sales person who doesn’t know there stuff? I called a motor home company and asked for a vehicle with an island bed. The sales person had never heard of this. I called the head office of a major motor company. The person on the other side didn’t know what ‘intermittent’ meant and I had to spell it. Many years ago I was talking to a senior social worker who had several graduates working for her. One of these came into her office to advise that a man and a human were waiting outside. Despite English not being her mother tongue, the graduate had been taught English right through school. What she was trying to convey was that a man and a woman were waiting. The predictions are that 70-80 per cent of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years. Do we deserve to have a job with such ineptitude seemingly rife? Unless you are savvy, what will you be doing in 20 years?  Stuart Bennie is a retail consultant at Impact Retailing www.impactretailing.com.au and can be contacted at stuart@impactretailing.com.au or 0414 631 702 Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.