This book aims to get readers up to speed with the 20 key tech developments that are likely to change the way we live our lives over the next years and decades. It’s a highly structured, with the 20 specific tech advances grouped together into five different broader areas such as ‘exploration’ and ‘security’. As well as being well structured, each lesson is easily digestible, with plenty of diagrams and infographics, as well as recaps, summarys, and a ‘toolkit’ at the end of each of the five categories of lessons, which consist of short summaries of the importance of each of the techs covered.
Gerald Lynch really does a good job of explaining what each tech is, how it is likely to advance in the coming years, how it might affect you, and what the social and ethical consequences might be. Despite the accessible structure and the easy to digest presentation, it not lightweight at all when it comes to covering the detailed specifics of the technologies. For example, the lesson on Virtual Reality gave one of the most precise summaries of what the tech involves that I’ve read (and I’ve read many).
All the topics are well chosen, as are the resources listed in the helpful ‘Further Learning’ pages at the end of each chapter. It was particularly pleasing to see that the final area covered is ‘Transcendence’, which takes a look at the really revolutionary techs that will likely transform both our world and ourselves beyond our current imagination, including quantum computing and general transhumanist issues.
You can purchase the book from Amazon in the USA here and from the UK here.