The Internet and smartphone are just the latest in a 250 year long cycle
of disruption that has continuously changed the way we live, the way we
work and the way we interact. The coming Augmented Age, however,
promises a level of disruption, behavioral shifts and changes that are
unparalleled. While consumers today are camping outside of an Apple
store waiting to be one of the first to score a new Apple Watch or
iPhone, the next generation of wearables will be able to predict if
we're likely to have a heart attack and recommend a course of action. We
watch news of Google's self-driving cars, but don't likely realize this
means progressive cities will have to ban human drives in the next
decade because us humans are too risky. Following on from the Industrial
or Machine Age, the Space Age and the Digital Age, the Augmented Age
will be based on four key disruptive themes - Artificial Intelligence,
Experience Design, Smart Infrastructure, and Health Tech. Historically
the previous 'ages' brought significant disruption and changes, but on a
net basis jobs were created, wealth was enhanced, and the health and
security of society improved. What will the Augmented Age bring? Will
robots take our jobs, and AI's subsume us as inferior intelligences, or
will this usher in a new age of abundance? Augmented is a book on future
history, but more than that, it is a story about how you will live your
life in a world that will change more in the next 20 years than it has
in the last 250 years. Are you ready to adapt? Because if history proves
anything, you don't have much of a choice.
