The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, & Our Lives

Physical Copy:

Audiobook:

By: Peter Diamandis

Rating: B

This is the 3rd book in Peter’s exponential series & as the name suggests it focuses on how all of the technologies previously discussed are converging & growing faster.

1. Technological progress is shifting into warp speed.

Mind-boggling gadgets & concepts, like flying cars, lab-grown steaks, quantum computers & robot surgeons, are becoming reality.

“Every major industry on our planet is about to be completely reimagined.”

2. “Convergence” speeds up this exponential change.

Technological progress grows at an exponential rate. The convergence of individual technologies – their interacting & combining with each other – contributes to that acceleration.

Flying Cars: Uber plans to have aerial ridesharing up & running in Dallas & LA by 2023. To accomplish this the development of new engines became necessary. This need further drove the convergence of advances in machine learning, materials science, & 3D printing to make it possible.

Longevity: The convergence between AI, cloud computing, quantum computing, sensors, data sets, biotech & nanotech could push the average human lifespan well above 100 years. “Making 100 the new 60.”

3. New technologies will transform every area of life, industry, & sector.

Take retail for example. Since 2006, brick & mortar stores have lost value.

Amazon started by combining the internet & a mail-order catalog model.

Enter converging technologies:

AI assistants, like Alexa, learn your preferences & do your shopping/schedule appointments for you. Retailers/service providers will employ AI assistants to answer these calls. (THINK of how some of these will affect your industry. What is innovative & differentiating today will be table stakes in 5 years!)

Then AI converges with other technologies like sensors & networks. To buy clothes, your VR headset let’s you enter a virtual store where – because your body scan is on file – the clothes fit perfectly. You choose an outfit, Alexa pays, your order goes to a 3D-printing facility & the clothes arrive by drone.

Next Steps:

Spend time investigating how converging technologies are impacting your industry. Contact some of those companies and just learn and absorb what you can. Begin to dream of what your business needs to look like 5 and 10 years from now.