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Abundance
Book

Abundance

The Future Is Better Than You Think

Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Free Press, 2012

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Visionary
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Given today’s remarkable technological and scientific breakthroughs, the world is in better shape than you might think. Medical doctor Peter H. Diamandis and journalist Steven Kotler insist that nothing is wrong that people can’t fix. They argue that society stands poised to solve its most fundamental problems – famine, disease and energy depletion – in the coming decades. Critics and cynics may find fault with the book’s optimism, but it is a well reasoned, compelling look ahead.

Summary

Achieving “abundance” means providing the basic essentials of life to everyone.

The issue of scarcity came to wide public attention when 18th-century British scholar Thomas Robert Malthus predicted that eventually the world would not have enough food to feed its population.

In 1972, the Club of Rome, a group of leading intellectuals, published The Limits to Growth, a bestseller that explained that the world was running out of resources. Many of its catastrophic forecasts have not come true, but its fundamental observations remain relevant: Famine and thirst kill millions, oil supplies are depleting, and species are becoming extinct. Some scientists predict that Earth will be unable to support its population within several decades. However, four emerging forces offer reason to hope. These massive influences will shape global living standards for the better:

  1. “Transformational technologies – In certain instances, technology can compensate for natural resource shortages; in fact, technological advancement will raise living standards around the globe. In the future, 10 technologies will address world hunger in a meaningful way: “agroecological...

About the Authors

Peter H. Diamandis, a physician, is CEO of the X Prize Foundation and founder of more than a dozen space and high-tech companies. Journalist and entrepreneur Steven Kotler is the author of four books. His work has appeared in more than 60 publications, including Wired, The New York Times and GQ.

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