I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works: Why Your World, Work & Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted

225 Pages·2011·1.26 MB·English

by  Nick Bilton

Copyright © 2010 by Nick Bilton All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Business, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a
division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN BUSINESS is a trademark and CROWN and the Rising Sun colophon are registered
trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bilton, Nick.
I live in the future and here’s how it works / Nick Bilton.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Technological forecasting. 2. Technology—Social aspects. 3. Computers and civilization. 4.
Ubiquitous computing. I. Title.
T174.B53 2010
303.48′34—dc22 2010026870
eISBN: 978-0-30759113-5
v3.1_r1
for danielle
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contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
author’s note
introduction
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Chapter 1.
bunnies, markets, and the bottom line
porn leads the way
Chapter 2.
scribbling monks and comic books
it’s ok—you’ve survived this before
Chapter 3.
your cognitive road map
anchoring communities
Chapter 4.
suggestions and swarms
trusting computers and humans
Chapter 5.
when surgeons play video games
our changing brains
Chapter 6.
me in the middle
the rise of me economics
Chapter 7.
warning: danger zone ahead
multiple multitasking multitaskers
Chapter 8.
what the future will look like
a prescription for change
epilogue
why they’re not coming back
acknowledgments
notes and sources
author’s note
Dear Reader,
This is not just a book but a unique reading experience.
Online, through a computer or smart phone, you can access additional
content for each chapter: videos, links to articles and research, and
interactive experiences that enable you to delve deeper into the topics
covered in that chapter, taking you beyond the printed page.
At the beginning of each chapter you will see an image called a QR
Code, just like the one above. Using a free application you can download
from nickbilton.com you will be able to snap an image of these codes
that will then take you to the additional content directly on your mobile
phone.
Become part of the I Live in the Future community by commenting on
chapters of interest and joining a continuing discussion with me and
your fellow readers online at nickbilton.com and with the free I Live in
the Future app for iPhone and iPad.
introduction
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As you will see, I eat my own dog food.
I used to love reading print newspapers. In 2004, when I started working
at the New York Times, I was excited beyond words to discover that
much of the Sunday Times was printed ahead of time and a stack of
those early-run papers arrived at the Times building every Saturday. Not
only did I work at one of the most respected newspapers in the world,
but along with a paycheck, I also got the magazine, the Week in Review,
the Metro section, and Sunday Business several hours before the rest of
the world!
A new favorite ritual took root: I’d head to the office early every
Saturday afternoon, and when the first delivery trucks arrived, I’d grab a
few smudged copies and run home to immerse myself in tomorrow’s
newspaper. Before long, friends began calling me to ask for advance
copies of the real estate section or the Sunday magazine.
Then, a couple of years later, I stopped my Saturday routine. The calls
stopped too. One by one, my friends were switching to new reading
rituals, replacing the smell and feel of the printed page with a quicker,
personally edited, digital reading experience. Even when the paper was
free, they didn’t want a copy anymore!
The same thing was happening to me. I had started reading
newspapers in high school and for years had stumbled every morning to
the doorstep, blurry-eyed and half asleep, to fetch the morning paper.
But now I was checking the headlines in the morning on my computer,
reading articles on my mobile phone on the way to the office, and
surfing news sites all day long. Aided by social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter that helped pull together the best content at a
vastly quicker pace, I now could see news more quickly online. I also
had a much easier and more succinct way to share the articles I found
interesting while adding my own commentary, helping to cull the best
morsels of content for my friends, family, and coworkers. In retrospect, I
was going through a personal “digital metamorphosis”—something
many of you will experience, if you haven’t already. For some, it will
happen over time as you move one paper task after another to the
computer, phone, or digital reader. For others, it will happen quickly
with the purchase of a fancy new phone or new reader that suddenly
opens up a whole new world of electronic possibilities.
In my case, unread newspapers at home began to climb to furniture-
sized proportions by the front door, with the bottom layer turning a
sickening shade of khaki yellow. My wife and I simply referred to the
growing tower as the Pile.
Eventually, as the yellowing newspapers continued to collect, I
decided it was time to take the plunge. I waited until lunchtime to make
the call, checking the sea of cubicles around me to make sure nobody
could hear me. I felt like a philandering spouse, and the idea of being a
cheater didn’t feel good.
I picked up the phone and called the Times circulation department. I
even tried to disguise my voice in case someone recognized me, adding a
tinge of an accent and speaking a little more slowly.
“Yes, I’m sure I want to cancel the delivery,” I told the rep. “I’m sorry,
I just don’t read it anymore.”
Of course, I love the New York Times. The stories are still top notch, as
good as they’ve ever been: perceptive, exploratory, thoughtful, and
informative. The problem is that the approach just doesn’t make sense to
me anymore. I understand the concept—the printed paper is a neat
package with a hundred or so news articles, displayed by subject and
order of importance, culled by Times editors, my colleagues. Top stories
are here, business articles are there, sports is in the back of the business
section on most weekdays.
But that’s the problem: It’s only a collection of what editors think is
appropriate. And it doesn’t swirl in my preferences. My likes and
dislikes; it’s just not designed for me. More important, by the time those
carefully chosen words on paper arrive at my house, printed
permanently on the page and selected for a vast audience of readers, a
lot of the content isn’t current.
A few years passed while I contentedly consumed the news in my own
way. I continued to do my work at the New York Times Research Labs,
helping the Old Gray Lady find her place in mobile phones, on the
computer screen, and in video, and my workplace infidelity remained
my own private business. Then, in spring 2009, I appeared on a roster of
speakers for the geeky O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San
Jose, California, aimed at cutting-edge technology developers. A Wired
magazine reporter attending the conference asked for an interview.
Like a good corporate citizen, I checked with the Times public
relations folks to make sure the interview was OK. Once they gave the
go-ahead, I sat down with reporter Ryan Singel.
For over an hour, I showed Singel some of the prototypes from the
Times research labs, such as the inner workings of our digital living
room, where content can move seamlessly from my computer to a phone
and back to a big-screen television. I showed him how videos on my
computer of cookbook author and “Minimalist” columnist Mark Bittman
whipping up a dish can appear instantly on my television while the
recipe pops up on my phone. Every device could be connected to the
others, and the stories I read on the computer could be illustrated with
maps or video interviews on the TV, computer, or phone. Some day, I
explained, sensors in the couch might alert the television or the
computer to turn to my favorite shows or sites, or sensors in my phone
might detect when I’m in the car and prompt information to be read
aloud instead of displayed. For those who still want to read on paper,
newspaper boxes might print out a personalized version—with
customized advertising and even the ability to notify a nearby Starbucks
that I was headed in for coffee.