Authored by Dr. Tim Pletcher, DHA, CEO of Velatura
In this increasingly digital and AI-driven world, success depends on the ability to organize, leverage, mobilize, and monetize critical digital assets whether logistical, financial, medical, legal, or social. Thriving in this future digital environment is called Digital Prosperity.
Introduction
According to Forrester, by 2028 the digital economy will account for 17 percent of global GDP, representing $16.5 trillion in value*. Another wave of transformation is already underway as speech recognition, natural language processing, virtual reality, and blockchain converge with artificial intelligence (AI). This convergence is laying the groundwork for societal change of even greater magnitude.
The digital transformation began in the 1950s with mainframes and the digitization of the telephone network. It accelerated with the internet, expanded through personal computing, and was reshaped by smartphones. Social media and virtual communication then created a digital realm that permanently altered how people work, interact, and generate wealth.
The real world and the digital realm operate under very different laws. The physical world is finite, local, and slow. It is limited by distance, scarcity, and human schedules. Stores close on holidays, transactions pause on weekends, and work stops at the end of a shift. The digital realm is simulated, infinite, and continuous. It exists everywhere at once, runs at machine speed, and operates around the clock without pause.
In the past, the barrier between the real and digital worlds was thick and difficult to cross. Today it is increasingly thin and permeable. Phones, wearables, and smart devices stream physical activity into digital models. Cars, drones, and homes generate digital shadows of movement, energy use, and security. Payment systems extend physical value into real-time, always-on digital exchange.
Until recently, this relationship moved in only one direction. Physical experiences were represented digitally and controlled by humans. The Internet of Things projects much of the real world now into digital spaces. With the rise of AI, the digital realm can now operate independently and influence the physical. Algorithms already shape the news we see, the products we buy, and the routes we drive. AI agents are beginning to adjust supply chains, trigger medical interventions, operate vehicles, control homes, and direct financial flows automatically.
Much of our world is already digitally represented, often passively and without awareness or agency. The challenge of the next decade is to organize digital assets, structure analog possessions so they are computable, and deploy them into AI-driven systems that not only extract insight but also shape real-world outcomes for optimal benefit.
For individuals, this may begin with organizing medical records, financial accounts, and digital identities so they can be mobilized when needed. For families, it extends to shared health histories, household finances, and digital estates that preserve continuity across generations. For organizations, it requires structuring operational data, intellectual property, and digital assets so they are computable, portable, and ready to drive innovation and resilience.
Success in organizing and mobilizing digital assets so they generate tangible value in health, wealth, and well-being is what we call Digital Prosperity. Once established, it can be cast forward through representation into a future where the digital and physical work together to multiply human prosperity.
From Digital Prosperity to Human Prosperity
The bi-directional flows and growth in the digital realm are of importance to everyone because as Digital Prosperity grows, it increasingly supports or changes the foundations of human prosperity. In practical terms, that means digital assets and systems are no longer abstract or separate from daily life because they are becoming the scaffolding that upholds Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
- Physiological: Smart agriculture, digital payments, and energy grids ensure food, shelter, and utilities are delivered more reliably.
- Safety: Cybersecurity, digital health monitoring, and predictive AI protect physical and mental well-being and financial stability.
- Belonging: Social platforms, digital communities, and persistent avatars provide new modes of connection across distance.
- Esteem: Digital reputation systems, credentialing, and economic participation elevate status and opportunity.
- Self-Actualization: AI-driven creativity, education, and autonomous agents expand human potential far beyond physical constraints.
In this sense, digital prosperity is not an end. It is the engine that increasingly powers actual prosperity by converting digital rights, freedoms, infrastructure, trust, and representation into food on the table, health in the body, wealth in the family, and meaning in the community.
Defining Digital Prosperity
In this increasingly digital and AI-driven world, success depends on the ability to organize, leverage, mobilize, and monetize critical digital assets whether logistical, financial, medical, legal, or social. Thriving in this future digital environment is called Digital Prosperity.
For organizations, Digital Prosperity means unlocking operational efficiency, fueling innovation, and amplifying service impact. For individuals and families, it extends to economic resilience, health preparedness, education, and social well-being all driven by empowerment and opportunity across finance, healthcare, and community life.
Digital Prosperity is only possible when supported by four foundational pillars:
- Data Sovereignty (Rights)
- Cyber Independence (Freedoms)
- Computational Capacity (Infrastructure)
- Cultural Fit (Trust)
Together, these form the base of the Digital Prosperity Pyramid. The differentiating factor or the “height” of the pyramid is Digital Representation, which determines how far those foundations can project into the digital world. The resulting “volume” or size of the pyramid represents realized digital prosperity.
Digital Prosperity Pyramid
With rights, freedoms, infrastructure, and trust serving as the foundation, and how much digital representation an individual, family, or organization has in the digital realm determining its height, then the space or volume inside the pyramid equals the digital prosperity available.
Data Sovereignty (Rights) The right to exercise legal, ethical, and technical control over one’s data and digital assets. It means deciding who can access data, how it is used, and on what terms — for individuals, organizations, states, and nations. Sovereignty provides the foundation of trust and fair participation in the digital economy.
Cyber Independence (Freedoms) The degree to which an entity can operate digitally without undue dependency, vulnerability, or coercion. This requires resilience against threats, infrastructure failures, and data lock-in. Independence also demands interoperability and freedom from information-blocking, ensuring the rights provided by data sovereignty can be fully exercised. At its core, cyber independence means having security and autonomy to mobilize one’s own data and assets, interact with any service (including AI), and transact safely in digital commerce.
Computational Capacity (Infrastructure) The digital-age equivalent of roads, warehouses, and factories. Computational capacity provides computing power, storage, and connectivity to apply analytics and AI at scale without losing control. It includes:
- Compute Power — access to devices, cloud, edge, and advanced AI acceleration.
- Data Storage — secure, portable, and under your control.
- Algorithmic Availability — freedom to use/adapt models without lock-in.
- Data–Compute Integration — seamless linking of data with tools.
- Scalability & Elasticity — expand or contract resources as needed.
- Equitable Access — advanced resources available to all.
- Basic Connectivity — reliable broadband as a non-negotiable baseline.
Cultural Fit (Trust) The relational legitimacy that ensures prosperity is sustainable and accepted. This includes trustworthiness, scientific integrity, cultural alignment, ethical consistency, and intergenerational continuity. Faith traditions, languages, and cultural values anchor digital systems in shared meaning, making them both usable and respected. Without cultural fit, prosperity may appear strong on paper but fail to earn adoption in practice.
Digital Representation: The Prosperity Multiplier
A strong foundation alone is not enough. Prosperity does not come from any single pillar, but from their interaction projected into the world through a rich digital presence that organizes, activates, and monetizes digital assets. Two organizations or families may share the same rights, freedoms, infrastructure, and trust, yet achieve vastly different outcomes. The difference lies in their Digital Representation: the scope, quality, and authenticity of their presence in the digital ecosystem, and the degree to which their digital assets are organized for higher-value use.
Representation spans from basic identifiers like emails, websites, and social accounts to AI agents, avatars, and metaverse identities. The true differentiator, however, is the ability to structure digital assets so they can be fed into AI and advanced content-processing services that transform raw data into something of greater value. For example:
- In healthcare, raw clinical notes, lab results, and wearable data become computable inputs for AI-driven care coordination, predictive health alerts, or digital twins that guide treatment.
- In finance, transaction logs, claims data, or even household budgets become structured assets that AI can analyze to improve credit access, optimize investments, or detect fraud.
- In media and content, unstructured recordings or manuscripts become searchable, AI-indexed libraries that fuel new revenue streams through licensing, syndication, or streaming.
- In intergenerational wealth transfer, digital estates such as tokenized assets and NFTs to family records, business processes, family secret recipes, or curated knowledge can be transitioned seamlessly to heirs, ensuring continuity of prosperity and cultural legacy across generations.
The effective use of digital wallets, NFTs, smart contracts, and monetized content streams further amplifies prosperity by turning representation into continuous economic agency. A robust digital footprint not only expands reach and builds trust, but also unlocks computability which is the ability to continuously transform raw assets into higher-value outcomes. Just as a taller pyramid encloses more volume, stronger and better-organized digital representation multiplies prosperity.
For individuals, this means more than simply “being online.” It requires curating a presence that is discoverable, trustworthy, and portable across platforms. It’s more than making noise on social media but also supported by digital assets that are structured and AI-ready, perhaps even extended by persistent AI avatars capable of transacting, teaching, or generating value around the clock. For organizations, it requires ensuring brand identity, trustworthy services, and data assets are authentic, interoperable, and aligned with cultural values of the customer ready to feed into explainable AI ecosystems that will increasingly determine competitive advantage.
In short, digital representation is the multiplier that transforms rights, freedoms, infrastructure, and trust into tangible prosperity. Representation is economic agency, confidence, and continuity in the digital age. It is the critical differentiator that turns entitlement into empowerment, and potential into realized prosperity.
Assessing Progress on the Digital Journey
Not everyone is in the same position to digitally prosper. In fact, while a large majority of the world has a smart phone not everyone knows where to begin relative to AI or what an agentic avatar operating in the metaverse even means. Many organizations are still working to digitally connect, most organizations today are still suffering from information overload, challenges with interoperability, and how to make sense of their data. It’s likely that for some time we will have individuals and organizations spread across three decades of potential:
2015 → Digital Connectivity. The last decade was about getting everyone online. Smartphones, social media, cloud computing, and broadband expansion defined the era. The focus was connecting people and information networks, platforms, and communities.
2025 → Digital Intelligence. This current decade is about making sense of all that data. AI, automation, blockchain, and machine learning have moved from labs into daily life. The emphasis is on extracting insights, building algorithms, and augmenting human decision-making with digital intelligence.
2035s → Digital Prosperity. The next decade will be about turning intelligence into empowerment and shared prosperity. It’s not just having data or smart systems it’s organizing assets, securing rights and freedoms, ensuring equitable infrastructure, and projecting trust and representation. The question shifts from “what can technology do?” to “who prospers, and how to optimize its full potential?”
The opportunity for individuals, families, organizations, communities of shared interest or faith, and even entire nations is to establish strong digital representation and lead in exercising their rights, freedoms, infrastructure, and trust to harness the prosperity offered by the digital realm. Equally important is active participation in the governance of these spaces, as AI and the Internet of Things increasingly shape real-world activity. Without this engagement, those with limited representation in the digital realm risk not only being marginalized online but also disadvantaged in the physical world. Live long and digitally prosper!
*O’Grady, M., Hoffman, D., Jacobs, I., & Contributors. (2024, July 17). Global digital economy forecast, 2023 to 2028. Forrester Research. https://www.forrester.com/report/global-digital-economy-forecast-2023-to-2028/RES181192 forrester.com
**Multiple AI services were used to improve the content and quality of this article.