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
- Dematerialization
- Real-time on-demand
- Decentralization
- Platform synergy
- 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
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