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Literally cannot predict the future without a chapter on energy and the environment or some aspect of the world outside of IT. These types of people are so abs

Literally cannot predict the future without a chapter on energy and the environment or some aspect of the world outside of IT. These types of people are so abstracted away from the real world they think the future doesn't involve anything outside of this abstraction. They think you can write an app and use it to fix global warming. Your life and your children's lives will be more greatly shaped by events and innovations in the physical world moreso than IT. It may not seem this way now, but this is the future. What is inevitable is that the world will warm up and energy resources will become scarce enough in our lifetimes that either there will be a collapse or a paradigm shift to a new resource or a new way of life. This is more inevitable then anything the author talks about which tbh is largely speculative.

ilaksh 7y ago
It's a good point about energy and the environment being important aspects missing from the book. But I don't find the summary to be discussing largely speculative predictions. It sounds more like trends or situations that already exist today.
- crimsonalucard 7y ago
  These are virtual trends that give an illusion of progress. Yes you can order something off of Amazon now, but the product is still being transported to your home, physically. Think of the web as another api to interface with the real world. The trends within this api are largely inconsequential and unpredictable because they have less bearing on reality then something like inventing a teleportation system or fusion reactor. The technological trends of the past 40 years have largely been in the area of illusion. IT and finance are where most of this growth occurs. There are definitely some tangible benefits but most economic improvements are more abstract/illusory then physical and real. Aa true paradigm shifting event happens in the real world. Energy, transportation, climate are where it's really happening. The appification shopping, listening to music and other abstract stuff are largely unpredictable because that's all it is: virtual abstractions. It's fluid like software and it's easy to change. Speculating on where this change goes is like predicting stock prices.
  - rramadass 7y ago
    Well said. We are living in a "virtual world" of our making and people are forgetting that at some point it meets the real and physical world through our own manifestations. And that is where the "Great Unknown" lies. How is it changing Us, our Society and the World at large? Can we afford to hold an illusion of infinite resources and possibilities while reality sets definite bounds? We are living within a "mental maze" and not realizing that we are merely extending and complicating it rather than breaking out of it. This is maya in the 21st century.
rramadass 7y ago
+1 for some much needed Sanity.

ilaksh 7y ago

It's a good point about energy and the environment being important aspects missing from the book. But I don't find the summary to be discussing largely speculative predictions. It sounds more like trends or situations that already exist today.

crimsonalucard 7y ago
These are virtual trends that give an illusion of progress. Yes you can order something off of Amazon now, but the product is still being transported to your home, physically. Think of the web as another api to interface with the real world. The trends within this api are largely inconsequential and unpredictable because they have less bearing on reality then something like inventing a teleportation system or fusion reactor. The technological trends of the past 40 years have largely been in the area of illusion. IT and finance are where most of this growth occurs. There are definitely some tangible benefits but most economic improvements are more abstract/illusory then physical and real. Aa true paradigm shifting event happens in the real world. Energy, transportation, climate are where it's really happening. The appification shopping, listening to music and other abstract stuff are largely unpredictable because that's all it is: virtual abstractions. It's fluid like software and it's easy to change. Speculating on where this change goes is like predicting stock prices.
- rramadass 7y ago
  Well said. We are living in a "virtual world" of our making and people are forgetting that at some point it meets the real and physical world through our own manifestations. And that is where the "Great Unknown" lies. How is it changing Us, our Society and the World at large? Can we afford to hold an illusion of infinite resources and possibilities while reality sets definite bounds? We are living within a "mental maze" and not realizing that we are merely extending and complicating it rather than breaking out of it. This is maya in the 21st century.

rramadass 7y ago

+1 for some much needed Sanity.