I was reading this morning about how we are never really prepared for the future. This is because we expect it to be just a little different from where we are now, as we tend to be biased by our previous, and recent, experiences. The likelihood is, however, that the future will be radically different from today. Roy Amara, founder of The Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California once said:
“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
Many people agree with him.
So to prepare yourself for the future, it’s important to read what people, who are much cleverer and more insightful than the average person, are saying. It’s not to say they will be 100% right of course, but it gives you a good flavour of what to expect and the developments (particularly in technology) that are taking place. Here are some good places to start working out what the future may hold.
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Ray Kurzweil)
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think (Peter Diamandis)
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (Andrew McAfee)
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future (Kevin Kelly)
Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations (Thomas Friedman)
Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Joi Ito)
Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it) (Salim Ismail)
WTF?: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us (Tim O’Reilly)
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Steven Pinker)