This was an important book to put today's technology and it's underlying trends into focus.Kelly showed me how the new normal needs to be accepted, maintained and upgraded.
Staying up to date requires a constant willingness to learn and adapt.
What really hit me was chapter 5 - Accessing. It is here that he laid out why streaming music is such a strong trend. Without even being conscious of it we are shifting from a society that owns things to one that pays to have access to things.
The "sharing economy" fits into the world of access over ownership. You don't have to own a car if you have access to Uber. You don't need to buy a DVD if it is available, on demand, on Netflix.
I paid for Apple Music just to see what the fuss was about but I kept thinking that I didn't OWN the music which plays contrary to how I grew up. You build a collection, it sits on a shelf, it's something you access and it's something that speaks to others of your tastes.
The difference is, with ACCESS to everything, you can let your imagination run wild. You hear an old Willie Nelson song in a movie and you look it up. You can then add the song or the entire album to your virtual collection. If it is there.
In the fullness of time everything will be available for access. Today it is kind of lumpy and you might have accounts with more than one service.
Anyways. The book put the trends into focus and also gave me some idea of where things are going.
Kelley explores such subjects of AI and it's inclusion into everyday objects. Tracking and surveillance. How screens are changing the world.
As the subtitle says: Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future.
The future looks pretty cool.
Recommended.
Kevin Kelly's website is here - http://kk.org/
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