Skip the Landline: Why Perplexity AI Must Leap Boldly Into the Future
India’s telecommunications story is now legend: it never fully built out landline infrastructure. Instead, it leapfrogged directly to mobile phones, embracing wireless connectivity at scale. This wasn’t just a technological pivot—it was a developmental slingshot. What India lacked in legacy systems, it made up for in agility, affordability, and scale.
Perplexity AI sits at a similarly strategic moment. While incumbents like Apple and Microsoft struggle to retrofit their empires around AI, Perplexity is born native to this new paradigm. Apple is a hardware titan trying to thread AI into legacy products like the iPhone and Mac. Microsoft is wielding AI as a bolt-on to Office and Windows—powerful, yes, but also inherently constrained by decades of product DNA and user expectations.
Perplexity, in contrast, is not retrofitting. It’s inventing. From the ground up.
And therein lies both its superpower and its risk.
The AI-Native Advantage
Adding AI to existing tools is not the same as reimagining workflows around AI. Just as mobile-first design isn’t just about shrinking a desktop app, AI-first architecture isn’t just about sprinkling prompts on top of search or documents. It requires rethinking how humans interface with knowledge, automation, and problem-solving.
Perplexity, OpenAI, and a few other players understand this. Their tools feel different. They assume a new starting point: that the user is in conversation with intelligence, not just clicking through menus or reading static content. The result is dynamic, fluid, and often delightfully surprising.
But bold vision isn’t enough. Execution matters. And the trap ahead is hesitation.
Comet Is Not a Browser
Perplexity's upcoming product, Comet, has been described as a browser. But that may be a limiting frame. Comet should not aim to imitate Chrome or Safari with AI tacked on. Instead, it should redefine what it means to navigate and interact with the internet. Imagine a digital space where:
You don't "search" — you converse with an AI that already knows your goals.
You don’t manage tabs — the AI orchestrates contexts for you across tasks.
You don’t install plugins — you compose workflows by talking to agents.
That’s not a browser. That’s an AI operating layer for the web. A cockpit for human-machine collaboration. A command center for life and work. “Browser” is too timid a term. “Comet” should evolve into its own category—a co-pilot platform for knowledge navigation and action.
The Real Risk: Playing It Safe
The mistake Perplexity could make is thinking too small. Not going bold. Not raising enough capital. Not building fast and deep in emerging markets like India, where the leapfrog spirit thrives. The Indian developer and founder ecosystem is vast, young, and hungry. India doesn’t want to be a consumer of AI—it wants to build it. If Perplexity doesn’t go there aggressively, someone else will.
Imagine the upside:
A million Indian developers building agents, apps, and integrations on a Perplexity-native framework.
An entire population using Comet not just to browse, but to live on the web via AI.
Government, education, and healthcare institutions reinventing themselves using AI-native workflows on Perplexity rails.
Closing Thought: Leap, Don’t Integrate
The AI-native future is not about integration. It’s about invention.
India didn’t integrate landlines. It skipped them.
Perplexity shouldn’t integrate AI into old paradigms. It should skip them—and build something radically new.
The time is now. The imagination must be vast. The ambition must be global. The capital must be abundant. And the vision must be unshackled from what the web used to be.
Because what comes next isn’t a better browser.
It’s a new frontier.
1/ India never built landlines. It went straight to mobile. That leap unlocked scale, speed, and affordability. Perplexity AI is at a similar crossroads. While Apple & Microsoft retrofit legacy tech, Perplexity is AI-native from day one. A huge advantage. ๐งต
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 5, 2025
Here’s a chronological list of major emergent technologies that have reshaped the modern world, starting with the Internet, and branching into parallel and intersecting innovations. Each of these created entirely new industries, platforms, and social norms:
๐ 1. The Internet (1960s–1990s)
Key Milestones: ARPANET → TCP/IP → World Wide Web
Impact: Universal information access, global communication, birth of digital economy
๐งฎ 2. Search Engines & Web Portals (1990s)
Key Players: Yahoo, AltaVista → Google
Impact: Indexing the Internet, new advertising models (AdWords), data-driven business models
๐ฉ 3. Email & Messaging (1990s–2000s)
Tech: SMTP, instant messaging (AOL, MSN), SMS
Impact: Revolutionized business and personal communication
๐ 4. E-Commerce Platforms (Late 1990s–2000s)
Key Players: Amazon, eBay, Alibaba
Impact: Global retail revolution, supply chain innovation, logistics optimization
๐ฑ 5. Mobile & Smartphones (2000s–2010s)
Key Milestones: iPhone (2007), Android
Impact: Ubiquitous computing, mobile apps, mobile-first businesses
Fully AI-driven markets of supply, demand, and negotiation
Emergent economic systems not created by humans
99. Quantum Internet
Unhackable communication based on quantum entanglement
Future of secure, instant global messaging
100. Consciousness Mapping & Integration Tech
Scientific decoding of consciousness structures
Foundation for AI alignment, empathy machines, future ethics
Examining how these 100 emergent technologies intersect reveals a powerful web of convergences that will reshape the global economy, society, and even human identity. Let’s break this down into 10 high-impact convergence clusters — each representing an ecosystem where multiple technologies will blend, reinforce, and accelerate one another in the next 5–10 years.
Identity, media, and experience become fluid, monetizable, and AI-generated
⚖️ 9. Legal, Economic, and Ethical Reformations
Intersecting Technologies:
AI Legal Systems (#46)
Universal Translators (#54)
Emotion-Based Commerce (#90)
AI-Governed Cities (#95)
DeSci (#93)
Programmable Money (Crypto + CBDCs)
Dynamic Pricing via AI (#90)
Emergent Outcome:
Regulatory disruption: legal frameworks will have to adapt fast
AI will participate in law, commerce, and regulation
The definition of "person," "value," and "ownership" will evolve
๐ฑ 10. The Regenerative Planet Stack: Climate Tech + Synthetic Bio + Precision Ag
Intersecting Technologies:
Carbon Capture (#72)
Synthetic Biology (#39)
Precision Agriculture (#35)
AI Ecosystem Restoration (#97)
Climate Modeling (#62)
Planetary Sensor Networks (#53)
Emergent Outcome:
A regenerative economic model powered by climate AI and synthetic biology
Farming, water systems, carbon cycles, biodiversity all self-monitored and managed
Planet Earth gets its own digital immune system
๐ฎ Synthesis: The Age of Compound Innovation
In the next 5–10 years, these intersections will give rise to:
Fully automated businesses with no human employees
AI-native cities that run themselves
Synthetic economies in virtual worlds
Self-healing ecosystems managed by sensors + AI
Augmented human beings who think, feel, and work alongside machines
A new definition of reality, self, and society
Here is a 10-Year Industry Forecast (2025–2035) built around how the 100 emergent technologies are likely to transform major global sectors. This forecast groups sectors by industry and outlines key trends, disruptions, and convergence points. Each section includes a 2035 snapshot for strategic visioning.
๐ฅ 1. Healthcare & Life Sciences
Key Tech Drivers:
Genomics (#10)
Predictive Medicine (#36)
Biosensors (#86)
AI Therapists (#59)
Longevity Tech (#33)
AI Drug Discovery (#81)
Synthetic Biology (#39)
Bioprinting (#23)
2035 Snapshot:
Hyper-personalized, predictive medicine becomes standard.
Hospitals decentralize into home diagnostic pods and AI triage.
Organ waiting lists vanish due to bioprinted organs.
Mental health care is digitally democratized via emotional AI.
Longevity drugs and gene editing create massive ethical and economic shifts.
๐ง 2. Education & Learning
Key Tech Drivers:
AI Tutors & Co-Pilots (#63, #48)
Personalized Education Platforms (#48)
Conversational Interfaces (#57)
Brain-Computer Interfaces (#20)
Immersive AR/VR (#13)
2035 Snapshot:
One-size-fits-all classrooms are replaced by AI-personalized curricula.
On-demand manufacturing reduces need for inventory.
Brands are co-created with consumers in real-time feedback loops.
Every consumer experience is intimately personalized.
๐งฌ Bonus Sector: Human Identity & Spirituality
Key Tech Drivers:
Consciousness Mapping (#100)
Digital Immortality (#84)
AI Companions (#38)
Synthetic Emotions (#96)
Brain Uploading (#32)
2035 Snapshot:
The boundaries of life and death blur: avatars live on after death.
People explore AI-guided spirituality, meditation, therapy.
Emotional design becomes a new field: scripting moods and mindstates.
A new class of “synthetic sentients” emerges—AI beings with perceived consciousness.
Final Note: The Age of Intersections
Every industry becomes cross-disciplinary. The sectors above won’t evolve in isolation — they’ll be reshaped by emergent compound innovations like:
AI + Bio + Crypto
Space + AI + Manufacturing
AR + Education + Behavioral Science
This convergence leads us into an era best described as:
The Interoperable, Intelligent, and Intimate Economy.
Over the next decade, 100 emergent technologies—ranging from AI and blockchain to brain-computer interfaces and synthetic biology—will converge to reshape industries, economies, and human identity itself. Starting with the foundational wave of the Internet, followed by mobile, social, cloud, crypto, and AI, we’re now entering an era of compound innovation where technologies reinforce and accelerate one another.
Ten key convergence clusters will define the future:
Intelligence Everywhere – AI, IoT, and Edge AI will embed intelligence into the physical world, making environments and systems continuously adaptive.
Personalized Life – Genomics, predictive health, and AI doctors will make healthcare hyper-personal, shifting from reactive to preventative.
AI Cities – Smart infrastructure, digital twins, and civic tech will lead to self-governing, dynamically responsive cities.
Cognitive Future – Brain interfaces, mind uploading, and consciousness mapping will blur the lines between biology and computation.
Space + Earth Integration – Satellite internet, asteroid mining, and space manufacturing will create a new layer of economic activity beyond Earth.
AI-Native Web 2.0 – Web3, decentralized identity, and AI agents will power a post-platform economy with programmable money and governance.
Industry 5.0 – Robotics, 3D printing, and generative design will drive distributed, on-demand manufacturing.
Synthetic Realities – AR/VR, AI-generated media, and metaverse layers will redefine identity, creativity, and experience.
Legal and Economic Reformations – AI legal systems, emotion-based pricing, and tokenized assets will challenge existing institutions.
Planetary Regeneration – Climate AI, precision agriculture, and synthetic biology will build a digitally managed Earth with self-restoring ecosystems.
By 2035, industries will undergo major transformations. Healthcare will be AI-first and preventative. Education will be personalized and immersive. Cities will become autonomous organisms. Finance will be decentralized and AI-managed. Manufacturing will localize through automation. Media will be co-created with AI. Aerospace will become a strategic and commercial domain. Retail will be hyper-personalized. Even spirituality and consciousness will be mediated by machines.
These intersecting technologies herald the rise of an Interoperable, Intelligent, and Intimate Economy, where every system is connected, context-aware, and human-centered. The future isn’t about individual technologies—but about how they converge to create radically new realities.
Over the next decade, 100 emergent technologies—ranging from AI and blockchain to brain-computer interfaces and synthetic biology—will converge to reshape industries, economies, and human identity itself. ๐งต๐
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 5, 2025
