Cambridge Business Association
The Inevitable
Book

The Inevitable

Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

Kevin Kelly
Viking, 2016
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

Developing technologies are bending toward certain “trajectories” that seem likely to take the world to uncharted realms in the decades ahead. Though they don’t yield to detailed forecasting, these accelerating forces are carving out interconnected channels of societal change. Technology guru Kevin Kelly describes 12 of the most potent irresistible forces, conveying his message with insight based on immersion in cyberculture. People “screen” instead of reading. They “flow,” “access” and “share” instead of buying and owning. While accepting some of the negatives, he finds optimism and opportunity at this unparalleled “beginning” of the human-machine civilization. getAbstract recommends his provocative report to innovators, technologists, investors, entrepreneurs, futurists, VCs and progressive “hackers” of culture, business and life.

Summary

The Dozen Major “Forces”

Twelve “inevitable” technological developments will reshape society between the present and about 2050. These currents will disrupt old norms, laws, perceptions, interactions and national interests. A dozen strong forces – expressed as 12 restless  “verbs” of change – accelerate each other in a ceaseless, expanding cycle of “trajectories.” Now that society’s illusions of “fixity” and control are obsolete, humans should exercise engaged vigilance over these developments. That will be of more service than clinging to orthodoxy. These pivotal technocultural advances are:

1. “Becoming”

The point where technology and culture merge – called the “technium” – keeps evolving. Unlike a static utopia, or a moribund dystopia, this burgeoning “protopia” drives people to innovate and grow. The technium’s unquenchable birthing or becoming knows no bounds, despite the difficulties and challenges it poses. “One aspect of the ceaseless upgrades and eternal becoming of the technium is to make holes in our heart.”

2. “Cognifying”

Affordable, ubiquitous artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt every area of human life. Interlinked cognified...

About the Author

Cyberculture writer and editor Kevin Kelly worked with Stewart Brand on the Whole Earth Catalog, The Whole Earth Review and Signal. In 1992, Kelly became executive editor of Wired magazine, where he is now “senior maverick.” He also wrote New Rules for the New Economy and What Technology Wants.

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    H. C. 2 months ago
    Dreadful over-estimation of the intelligence and education of the masses. The "AI"s that I encounter, and the algorithms that are forced on me pigeon-hole me. They try to tell me who I am and what I like. Most people are 1-dimensional. I am not. The future he describes is one of mass-stupidity. I do not own a single, useful "smart" object. Just stupid technology that tries to tell me what I want or how I want things. So, for idiots, who want to have all of their decisions made for them by circuitry, fine. Also, this all started with the gaming industry refusing to send you a disc, because they could not control pirating. So, you are FORCED to buy a license for a game, and have a constant internet connection. They reserve the right to withdraw the license that you paid for whenever they feel like it for any reason they like. I have built a computer out of older parts and put Windows 98 on it, to continue playing my old games.

    This all means that the world he describes is good for people, who are boring, bored with themselves, and thus easily bored. They have not been taught or trained to have patience, or to look for further and deeper meaning by re-exploring things. They consume and move on, like locusts. Ownership of intellectual property is crucial to creativity. Why shall I create if I do not own what I create? I quit the Air Force RotC, because I did all the work and some male got all of the credit. The kids today may think that's cool. As a woman, who has had to fight her way through the good-old-boy crap, I am disgusted.
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    a. S. 6 years ago
    Excelente resumo!
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    A. M. 7 years ago
    Senior maverick? Surely mavericks reject being in a hierarchy of mavericks?