Something not discussed much in The World We Made, is the future of the entertainment industry. I find it very odd that this topic isn’t a part of the book, seeing as how popular and widespread the industry is today, and I don’t think this popularity will fade any time soon. If anything, the entertainment industry is only going to get larger as current forms of entertainment grow and new forms are created.
There will likely be stricter environmental laws and regulations in the future, and this will have an effect on where movies and TV shows are shot. In mainstream show business, this could lead to fewer picturesque nature scenes, and more urban, not environmentally-protected scenes. On the other hand, as environmental awareness grows, we will also likely see a spike in environmental documentary films and TV series, such as Planet Earth and Before The Flood, that try to educate people on what’s going on around them.
In a future increasingly concerned about environmental issues, it is likely that we will also see a shift to more digital forms of entertainment. An example that we have already seen gain popularity in the last several years is, as Colin mentioned in his blog on the future of sports, e-sports. We might also expect a growth in AR/VR and technologies that we can’t even imagine yet. While the popular show Black Mirror mostly imagines a dark possible future of technology, I think an environmentally-aware future will carry a more positive and optimistic outlook, and guide the future of technology in a similar direction.