The most important book of the year, and actually the most important book of the next eighty-one years, is The Future Is Faster Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler. Diamandis is the creator of the XPRIZE, the Abundance 360 conference, and the worlds leading authority on where the world is going. Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the worlds leading expert on ultimate human performance.
Thereason these books are so important, Kotler explains, is that were going tosee more technological change in the next eighty-one years than weve seen inthe history of mankind. Were looking at a convergence of technologies, whichis going to transform every aspect of our lives, from flying cars to medicineand longevity, from retail to education.
Its comingso quickly that we thought the world needed a roadmap, because this is not atime to be left behind.
Diamandisand Kotler rocked the world with the publishing of their first book, Abundance,in 2012. The message of Abundance is that people with money,technological skills, and a desire to make the world better are using thosegifts to lift the bottom billion out of povertywhile creating new businessmodels that will build new fortunes.
Theirsecond book, Bold, showed readers how to create disruptive,life-transforming companies of their own.
Theirthird book, just launched, demonstrates how the convergence of various newtechnologies is speeding up the rate of change in ways that might have beenunimaginable just a few short years ago.
Each ofthe books, but especially The Future Is Faster Than You Think, presentsa dizzying array of technologies and new companies bringing those newtechnologies to market. The research load for a book like this isenormous.
Kotler isalso the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective, the leadingresearch and training organization decoding the science behind ultimate humanperformance. As a result, he says that he does most of his writing between 4a.m. and 8 a.m. The entire process of writing The Future Is Faster Than YouThink took approximately eighteen months.
One ofthe reasons for the success of the books is the extraordinarily high standardsto which Diamandis and Kotler hold themselves.
I dont consider something a fact, Kotler says, unless I have found three to five independent sources I really trust. Its so easy to go off on tangents or buy into something you see. The bigger challenge is to stick to the facts, which isnt easy when youre writing about things that havent happened yet.
Thebiggest challenge the authors face is the emotional state of the reader.
Peoplefear the future, Kotler says. They are afraid of change. People tend tobelieve that the future is going to be an abundance of bots, and either we get thingsright or human beings will go away.
Writingabout the future in a manner that is both exciting and unthreatening is nosmall undertaking, but the authors pull it off.
One ofthe things people fear most about new technologies is the loss of semi-skilledjobs like long-term truck driving. The authors point out that while these jobswill inevitably go away, it will take more than half a century before all suchpositions are wiped out.
Thefuture they posit isnt just faster than people thinkits also cheaper. Thecost of everything from energy to food to education will drop to near zero,Diamandis and Kotler argue, which means that human beings will be able todevote time and attention to doing things they love instead of simply trying tomeet their daily needs.
Life aswe understand it today, Kotler says, will be all but unrecognizable in a veryshort amount of time. Peter and I wrote The Future Is Faster Than You Think asa manual for understanding the future, diminishing ones fear about it, andhelping people determine how best they want to participate in it.
Werehoping that instead of being afraid of technological change, people willembrace it. A world where you dont have to scrap for a living, withoutdangerous climate change, where the cost of everything important moves towardzerohonestly, whats not to like?
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