The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

The New York Times bestseller-a guide through the twelve technological imperatives that will shape the next thirty years and transform our lives.

It’s 2046. You don’t own a car, or much of anything else, instead subscribing to items as you need them. Virtual reality is as commonplace as cell phones. You talk to your devices with hand gestures. Practically all surfaces have become a screen, and each screen watches you back. Robots and AI took over your old job but also created a new one for you, work you could not have imagined back in 2016.

In The Inevitable, Kevin Kelly, the visionary thinker who foresaw the scope of the internet revolution, provides a plausible, optimistic road map for the next 30 years. He shows how the coming changes can be understood as the result of a few long-term forces that are already in motion. Kelly both describes these 12 deep trends-including cognifying our surroundings, valuing access over ownership, tracking everything-and demonstrates how they are codependent on one another. These larger forces will completely revolutionize the way we work, play, learn, buy, and communicate with each other.

Ultimately, predicts Kelly, all humans and machines will be linked up into a global matrix, a convergence that will be seen as the largest, most complex, and most surprising event ever up to this time. The Inevitable will be indispensable to anyone who seeks guidance on where to position themselves as this new world emerge.