When Watson is Not Sherlock’s Mate - How Future Ready Are You?

 If you are of a certain age you may have learnt your English alphabet reciting – A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat… If you were to say this out loud to young kids today they will think you mean – Apple, the company and Game Boy, the gaming console. They might still be in sync with you about cats but only because that is a popular theme on YouTube.

Now let’s check how Future Ready you are today. For example, if to you Amazon only connotes the river in South America then on Internet Timescale you are pre-historic and the future does not augur well!

As you read the following 15 statements pause and check if you said to yourself, “Yes, that’s correct. What’s all the fuss about?” or did you exclaim, “Ah, I know the new meaning!”

1. Deep Blue is a colour.
2. Watson is Sherlock Holme’s mate.
3. Square is a figure with four equal sides and four right-angles.
4. Box is a physical container.
5. Quill is a bird’s feather, used for writing.
6. Raspberry Pi is what you eat.
7. Arm is the upper limb in your body.
8. Deep Learning is what you do when you study hard.
9. Risc is risk misspelled.
10. Oop(s) is an informal way of saying sorry.
11. Java is an Indonesian island famous for coffee.
12. Thimble is a protective cap you put on your finger while sewing.
13. Uber means a supreme example.
14. Oculus means an eye-like design.
15. Tencent is a US coin.

Now total up for how many of the above you knew the ‘new meaning’ and see your future:

• Got only upto 3 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Bleakus
• Got upto 8 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Securus
• Got upto 12 ‘new meaning’: Futurus Brightus
• Got more than 13 ‘new meaning’: Thrivus Maximus

Other way around, if for most of these words you only know the ‘new meaning’ – i.e. Square to you means a mobile payment company and you know FourSquare is not a more powerful mobile payment solution but a real-time location sharing service, BUT you haven’t a clue what I mean by ‘square is a figure with four equal sides and four right-angles’ then congratulations, you are an ultra cool digital native with no historical baggage!

In the 21st century only the curious shall thrive! So go ahead and Google to find out the ‘new meaning’ for statements where you went, “What’s the fuss about?” Chances are bright that Google will throw up the ‘new meaning’ in the first few search results, validating that if you don't know this ‘new knowledge’ you are not quite future ready!