Indications of a paradigm shift
My good friend and fellow futurist, Bjorn Brunstad has been working on future studies, searching for paradigm shifts lately. He generously shared these indicators of a paradigm shift with me.
Prior to a paradigm shift we will observe the following:
- Vested interests protect existing paradigm and deter challenging concepts
- Some of the activities that prolong the existing, become absurd
- Risk taking entrepreneurs and new technologies enable new solutions
- Actors suffering from existing paradigm support new regime
- Parent mindset about the new paradigm is not generally understood, and the new is often valued based on old measures
Just prior, or within a paradigm shift we will observe the following:
- Solutions supporting the old paradigm create and prolong serious problems and the number of protests increases
- The resource base for the old paradigm weakens
- Important actors leave the old paradigm
and then…
- The new reaches a tipping-point of learning-, scale- and networking effects
- Major actors decide to support the new paradigm
- Solutions are created, based on their own premises
Now, go ahead and see if you can locate upcoming paradigm shifts 
