Quick Take: The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly

I’m trying a “Quick Take” approach to book reviews here for the first time with Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable.

I’ve been a fan since the very first time I saw Kevin Kelly speak:

Shortly I realized that he was one of the driving forces behind much of the great content and lasting change in our world that had already touched my life. So, of course, I ravenously consumed What Technology Wants. Like a malnourished child finding protein, I was instantly on a new path of growth; my mind swirling through the 7th kingdom of life; the Technium…

The Inevitable

The Inevitable is perhaps not quite as mind-bending as What Technology Wants. While being more practical it manages to be just as exciting as well as eye-opening and deeply inspiring. In it, Kevin takes the current technology trends you’re hearing about and weaves them into a set of concrete glimpses of the future. If you want a snapshot of the hottest areas of tech today, and a peak into where these trends could lead us, The Inevitable must be at the very top of your reading list.

As I was reading Kevin’s explanation of “the 12 technological forces that will shape our future” I was struck by particular key words, phrases, and concepts supporting and defining each force. Being a proud margin scrawler, I quickly began noting these little jewels on the title page of each chapter, as reminders, or clues for my own thinking. Maybe they will be helpful to you as well – either as supplements to your own notes, conversation starters, seeds of innovation, or just curious encouragements to read the book for yourself.

So, here it is, my chapter-by-chapter list-style “Quick Take” from Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable:

1 – BECOMING

• Entropy
• Upgrading
• Endless Newb
• Protopia
• Users!
• This is the Beginning
  • Blockchain
  • AI / ML
  • CRISPR
  • Cloud
  • IoT

2 – COGNIFYING

• AI (ML)
• Smart-Everything
• AI cloud dominance
• New ways to think
• Bot herding
• Local manufacturing

3 – FLOWING

• Copying
• Streaming
• Real-time
• XaaS
• Free vs. Generatives
• nouns & verbs
• Liquidity (unencumbered)
  • remix
  • audience as artist

4 – SCREENING

• Authority
• People of the Book
• People of the Screen
• Universal Library
• Future of books
• VR & AR
• the now
• ubiquitous screens

5 – ACCESSING

• Borrowing
• Intangibles
• Verbs (over nouns)
• ‘as a service’
• On demand (real-time)
• Public commons
• Ecosystems

1. Dematerialization
2. Real-time on-demand
3. Decentralization
4. Platform synergy
5. Clouds

6 – SHARING

• Communists
• Collectivism
• Socialism Without the State
• Sharing & Sampling
• decentralization
• “dot-communism”
• Hierarchy vs. Network
• Curation
• Platforms
• Crowdfunding and Micropayments

7 – FILTERING

• Peak Media
• Curation
• Poverty of Attention
• Attention technology
• Influencers
• Real-time filters-on-filters
• The Value of Human Experience
• distinction

8 – REMIXING

• Summaries
• Recombination
• Findability
• Rewind-ability
• Transforming!

9 – INTERACTING

• Virtual reality
• Augmented reality
• Presence
• Interactivity (“just click on it”)
• Gamification IRL
• Identification
• AI in VR/AR

10 – TRACKING

• Sensors
• Self Quantification (health)
• New Senses
• Life Streams
• life logging
• tracking things (usage)
• Surveilence
• Metadata
• Coveillance
• Zillionomics

11 – QUESTIONING

• Impossible!
• theory vs. practice
• new social structures
• the extraordinary
• decreasing certainty
• fluid thinking
• the Paradox of Science
• the answer machine

12 – BEGINNING

• the HOLOS

BONUS: Don’t Fear the Inevitable: An Interview With Kevin Kelly

RULE BREAKER INVESTING // 02-14-2018