The Art of Looking into the Future: The Five Principles of Technological Evolution

by R.S. Amblee

book was named an "Honorable Mention" in "The London Book Festival"held at London (Jan 26, 2012)londonbookfestival.com/portal/The book also earned an "Honorable Mention" in "The New England Book Festival" held at BOSTON (Jan 14, 2012)newenglandbookfestival.com/winners201... Kirkus "Consumerism will impel us toward a marvelous machine-made world, according to this ambitious treatise on economics and technological change. Amblee, a software engineer, spotlights a handful of simple economic principles that he feels will mold the shape of things to come. Chief among them are the eternal desire for cheaper, better, more convenient goods and services; the drive for globalization and automation; and the need for cheap energy, the lack of which he believes is the primary cause of recessions. Software linked to all-knowing financial databases will eliminate distortions in stock prices and bank lending, he contends, and thus forestall asset bubbles and end the business cycle. At restaurants, "dining tables will become digital, offering world information" that will enable us to work while we eat. Everything converges toward a future that offers "more quality, more precision" and "timelier service," one where the main jobs will be "robot design, robot assembly, software development for robots, and so on," and where "life will be so easy and comfortable you will wonder how people used to stand in long lines just to pay!"His forecasts are bold--living in "space cities," we will be impervious to global warming and asteroid impacts." - Kirkus Indie Review "This book helps us develop forward thinking capabilities and possible ways to predict the future of technology and other aspects of importance, leaving us with a sense of accomplishment." - David Hale, Ph.D., President, DHI-Communications this rapidly advancing technological world, everyone wonders what will be the Next Big Thing. And not just individuals. Businesses also want to peer into the future to improve their chances for survival and success. But unfortunately there are no principles to help us see the future. There are lot of books that predict what will happen in next 5 or 10 years, but they don't tell us what guidelines they are using--maybe because they don't have one.The importance of establishing some fundamental principles to help people see the future is what motivated me to attempt at this improbable but not impossible task. Another motivation for writing this book is to discourage kids from dropping out of high school and college. Students give up on education for various reasons, but seldom do they consider the difficulty they will experience facing the future with the little schooling they have--because they don't know what the future will look. This book not only helps them understand the future challenges awaiting them but also helps them look at the right future careers.Businesses of today are equally challenged by technology that is changing at dizzying speed. Businesses that are not looking into the future will not be prepared to face the challenges, they may quickly loose out to garage inventors who come out with advanced approaches. All garage entrepreneurs have the advantage of being more agile so they can more quickly respond to emerging trends and technology. As they are starting afresh, they can pick the right technology and hire the like-minded employees with the necessary, state-of-the-art skillsets. This is where existing big companies face challenges; they either have to lay off employees or collapse all together.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2011

Reviews

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads. This is one person's view of how & why business/economics/the world works. His conclusions are absolutes, but the thoughtful reader can think of exceptions, which the author does not permit or acknowledge. For example, he states that consumers area always looking for a cheaper, better product in supermarkets. Most of the time that is true, but many people buy food from farmers' markets for several reasons like the high quality and local business support. Yes, the book make me think, but not to agree with the author on his 5 points. Most people would agree with most of it, but the "always" conclusions would also put off those who understand that some people would not follow his lock-step ideas.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. One guy's vision of the future, with how we can solve the energy crisis, the rising cost of education, ride out stock market bubbles etc. All about automation and globalization in the future. However, while a lot of the research was interesting, he made some huge assumptions, and leaps in thought processes that just didn't make sense to me. Still, glad I read it, it was definitely thought provoking.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
This was an interesting book. It is all about the future and how advanced technology will become and how these advancements will change our lives.
Sone of the ideas seemed plausible for the near future. Others seemed a little far-fetched.
The only thing I'm concerned about if these ideas come to fruition is that we will all turn into lazy bums and robots will do all our work for us.