Five Star Review of Kevin Kelly's book "The Inevitable."
Submitted by Frank T. Hayes, fth11050@gmail.com, 10/30/17
I thank Kevin Kelly for this most exciting account of digital technology, the genesis of the internet streaming data, provided free by users, and sold at huge profits by Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, all growing exponentially. "The Inevitable" is classic, articulate, empowering, premiering the analytical projection of life in transformation to the futuristic world of AI.
You'll find Kevin a gifted curator in the art of conveying insight on the phenomenal growth of digital technology bringing the world together on a screen. Kevin tells about the Mac II, how it came to life when plugged into a phone line via a modem. The next 30-years saw chips halved in size and doubled in speed every 2-years, 15 times, that's 3 football fields crunched into a square-inch. Eight-years of the iPhone decimated camera sales, the iPhone 8 camera has 12 megapixels.
From the colossal list of inter-related factors Kevin has codified twelve strategic forces that will shape our future; Becoming, Cognifying, Flowing, Screening, Accessing, Sharing, Filtering, Remixing, Interacting, Tracking, Questioning and Beginning. So where is all of this taking us?
Regarding the transformational impact on humanity, the growth of AI is on a trajectory ranking with epic moments of the ramped up R&D for The Manhattan Project and the Apollo program, new industries spun off, new career fields, reshaping every aspect of life. Aided by AI we'll have marvels not yet dreamed of, new products competitive on world markets, a better informed government, superpower leadership, and another 240 years of American Democracy.
This is more than a crash-course on robotics, it's an exclusive tour showcasing a futuristic world orchestrated by AI, less ownership, more services, cost sharing. Humans prevail as controlling authority, teaching the machine, with over-ride options favoring man-kind. We must account for dangers as well, misapplication, spying, what protocol might apply to a computer with potential for cracking encrypted security codes? It's challenging, all that potential, no room for error. For system integrity, do we rely on industry's over-sight, do we need a steering committee, a Geneva Convention? We do need public policy, a well informed public, and the best source of facts is Kevin's fast moving story of Silicon Valley. And I love his style, right to the point, without the small stuff. If you wish to be conversant on AI and Robots buy a copy of "The Inevitable."
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Reviews with images
"Technological life in the future will be a series of endless upgrades.
Writing about the future is better than writing about the past. We rarely hold predictions accountable for accuracy. In fact, this book begins with a discussion of how wrong everyone was in making predictions of how the Internet would develop. And yet, author Kevin Kelly is trying to predict how life will be in 2046 and beyond. “The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future” is loosely based on looking at past technological developments and projecting them into the future. Some of them are pretty bland, “This is not a race against the machines. If we race against them, we lose. This is a race with the machines. You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots.”One of Kelly’s main themes is that technology evolves on its own and the book ends with a somewhat bizarre prediction of how knowledge will be amassed.I was expecting more from this book. I was hoping that his 10 forces would be better grounded in past developments rather than predictions from the author’s imagination.
Top reviews from other countries
MIGUEL ANGEL TORRES AVILA
Una mirada al futuro
Reviewed in Mexico on August 31, 2020
