Future Smart

Managing the Game-Changing Trends That Will Transform Your World

Da Capo Press, 2015

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

In James Canton’s radical vision of the near future, disruptive innovation promises peace and prosperity.

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Editorial Rating

Qualities

Innovative
Eye Opening
Visionary

Recommendation

Global futurist James Canton, whom CNN once called the “digital guru,” highlights the role of innovation in driving radical, exponential near-future growth and change. This gigantic metamorphosis is not merely economic or technological, but profound and civilization transforming. Stuffed with lucid snapshot speculations about the world of 2025 and beyond, Canton’s book sets out to “disrupt your thinking.” Though he occasionally indulges in jargon, he does a good job of rattling preconceptions. Canton remains ardently optimistic, yet his concerns about the ethical and existential upheavals of radical change cut through his pep talk. getAbstract suggests his vision to organizational leaders, strategic decision makers, and entrepreneurs who are prepared to imagine and embrace a future of wild, unbridled innovation, for good or ill.

Summary

“Future Smart”

Exploding innovation in science and technology will bring a level of “exponential change” never before seen. You’ll need to be future smart to weather this great transformation. That means learning to recognize new, “game-changing trends” so you can benefit from them. Looking back at the past will give you a false view of what is to come. Instead, try to understand trends so, like futurists, you can make useful predictions. Break free of your past-focused bubble, learn to code, and develop new, adaptable life and work skills. Become future smart, not “future challenged.”

Global connectivity will accelerate. Steadily improving technology will become more “adaptive, agile and predictive.” The future of connectivity will drive “convergence” between people and machines. You will wear your technology. Innovative tech companies will develop more and more products with embedded computational devices. Most products will have Internet addresses. Your fridge, your watch, your jacket and, of course, your phone are becoming part of a globally connected, always-active “Internet of Things.”

Future businesses must change radically to accommodate higher customer...

About the Author

CEO of the Institute for Global Futures think tank, James Canton, PhD, wrote Technofutures and The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World in the Next 20 Years.

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M. E. 6 years ago

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S. C. 8 years ago

Wow! loved this book for real

James Canton