In 1970, American author Alvin Toffler wrote a bestselling book titled Future Shock.
His essential premise was that the rate of technical change had been accelerating and would continue to do so at an ever-faster pace.
Therefore, we should understand that, expect it, and become accustomed to it.
Over at least the past 25 years, Toffler's premise has been demonstrable.
In the past decade alone, technological change has dramatically speeded up, and its consequences, both societal and economic, even more so.
Moreover, we can see almost annually how those changes have accelerated.
Just as Alvin Toffler predicted, the accelerated rate of change can even overtake itself.
New technologies can become obsolete even before they are fully adopted and implemented.
As a direct result, our expectation of constant and faster change has affected our very thinking. We are in an age of instant-everything.
We now struggle to maintain a long-term view of most anything, because most everything has only a short-term life or consequence. Nor do we place value on anything that lasts.
Even complex electronic gadgets and appliances are quickly obsolete and/or pointless to repair because that technology has been replaced by the new version.
We don't develop a longer-term relationship with any possession or process.
Short-term thinking thus drives our attitudes and expectations, permeating virtually every aspect of life and with far-reaching consequences.
Recently, I have had direct experience of how ''short-termism'' is even driving attitudes to investment and entrepreneurship.
For several years we (a small group) have been seeking a financial partner to fund a promising land-based aquaculture project to raise flatfish in onshore tanks in Southland.
The project commercialises extensive research conducted by Niwa fisheries scientists. With world wild-fish volumes declining, prices rising and demand for fish far exceeding supply, sustainable aquaculture has a bright future.
The technology involved is not new - Europeans have farmed flatfish for more than 30 years.
Annual European production exceeds 17,000 tonnes but no flatfish are farmed in the Pacific region.
The scientist who led Niwa's research believes farming a New Zealand flatfish species could spawn a whole new industry, even exceeding the green-lip mussel industry.
The project's site on the southern coast is secured, an experienced European aquaculturist is available to emigrate to establish and manage the venture, and the detailed projections forecast attractive financial returns.
The funding being sought is not all required upfront but is spread over four to five years.
Therein lies the issue because it directly conflicts with ''short-termism''.
Several months ago, we presented and discussed this promising project to fund managers, investment advisers, and venture and ''angel'' investors in Auckland.
In every instance, we received the same response.
Being a new ''start-up'' venture was bad enough. Being ''so far away from Auckland'' was discouraging.
But the key negative was the length of time (four to five years) the funding partner would have to wait to get money back, a return on the investment, and a potential 800% + increase on the value of the capital invested.
Repeatedly, we were told investors are interested only in internet-technology projects and with a return horizon of less than two years.
Most investment is being directed into existing IT businesses needing additional funding to build or expand their market.
Such investors expect to get their investment back in less than two years and to at least double their money.
One fund manager said: ''If you came in here with some smart new mobile app idea, I could line you up with investors almost immediately.
Same for a good IT project. Everyone's looking to find and back the next Zero, to make a fast buck and with minimal risk.''
Recently, here in the South, we have been told exactly the same story as in the north.
It is acknowledged the investment pool for new business ventures in New Zealand is pitifully small.
However, the present obsession with short-term IT projects appears to be constraining the creation and development of sustainable other promising businesses that diversify the economy, create employment and develop new skills and intellectual property, while building long-term exports and earning foreign currency.
So a four to five-year investment is now ''too long term''? Farmers and agriculturists would scoff at that.
They understand long-term investment; it is fundamental to their business, as is patience.
Any new dairy-farm conversion or large-scale irrigation project takes a huge investment and years before reaching reasonable levels of production, while carrying the risk of income falling from $8.40 to $4.70 per kg or less in just a year.
Riding that out requires a long-term attitude to investment.
We were not alone in having difficulty securing a funding partner for our aquaculture project.
We crossed paths with an engineering-technology project that could have significant benefits in meat-processing productivity and yield.
But that inventor, too, kept being told investors only had appetite for IT-based short-term investments with quick returns and low risk.
So the effects of accelerating change influencing our attitudes to longer-term investment are denying New Zealand and the southern region of the opportunity to establish new industries such as our aquaculture venture and other high-value projects.
Warwick Thompson is a Wanaka-based business adviser and author.
