I live in the near future

I live in the near future – Knowledge Jolt with Jack.

Based on a comment somewhere in my network, I picked up Nick Bilton‘sI live in the future & here’s how it works. It’s an interesting read on how he sees all our new digital technologies influence the way we work and play.

Many of the ideas within the book seemed familiar to me. I don’t know if that means I am living in the future with Bilton, or if I just read enough about these topics to not feel terribly uncomfortable with them. One of the central ideas of the book is that people want their “stuff” under their own control, rather than having to follow the dictates of convention: mostly that means consuming (and creating) content on their own terms and on their own devices. He talks about the rise of “me” economics, where the world doesn’t so much revolve around “me” as everything is customizable to my needs and interests.

Bilton also brings in a lot of research to describe what is happening to people and ease the fears that people constantly report around brains turning to mush* at the over-use of digital technologies or multitasking or what have you. I enjoyed the trip back in time, as he recounted fears people had over television, comic books, phonographs, train travel and other technological advances in human history. The history was interesting from the perspective that society often has no idea what to do with new technologies when presented with then. Bilton suggests that is happening again today.

Continues @http://blog.jackvinson.com