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Next: The Future Just Happened

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Country
  
United States

Publication date
  
July 17, 2001

Pages
  
240 pp.

Originally published
  
2001

Publisher
  
W. W. Norton & Company

3.6/5
Goodreads

Language
  
English

Media type
  
Print (Hardback)

ISBN
  
978-0-393-02037-3

Author
  
Michael Lewis

Next: The Future Just Happened t3gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcSuXcEYJw80isqwU

Genres
  
Non-fiction, Transhumanism

Similar
  
Michael Lewis books, Non-fiction books

Next the future just happened by michael lewis sexyknowlege review


Next: The Future Just Happened is a book by Michael Lewis published on July 17, 2001 by W. W. Norton & Company. The book argues that rapidly evolving technology will upend the power structure of society. It gives power to the youngster who doesn't have preconceptions and entrenched interests. By making information readily available, the internet erodes the power and mystique of many professions.

Contents

Synopsis

Lewis provides examples including:

  • At the age of twelve, Jonathan Lebed began trading stocks. When he and three buddies did well in a stock-picking contest, people began coming to him for advice. By the age of fourteen, he learned that by posting messages in chat rooms, he could affect stock prices. This illustrates how internet chat rooms shifted power from seasoned professionals to a fourteen-year-old.
  • In the next chapter, the legal profession suffers a blow to its pride at the hands of fifteen-year-old Marcus Arnold, who became a top-ranked respondent to legal questions on AskMe.com.
  • The British rock band Marillion could not get funds for a promotional tour from their record company so they turned to the internet. By connecting directly with their fans through their fan website, they were able to raise money for the tour, then to produce new CDs and to sell merchandise. They are no longer dependent on the normal intermediaries.
  • TiVo and Replay allow people to watch TV shows when they want and to skip the advertisements. This changes the relationship between the broadcasters and the viewers. It continues the fracturing of the market observed by Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave (1980) and many others. The TiVo and Replay black boxes also transmit information back to the companies. The information on consumer preferences and behavior is valuable to advertisers because they can use it to try to target their ads to the people most likely to buy the product. This further segments the markets. Consumers gain convenience at the cost of privacy.

    • Lewis argues that elites are under attack. The internet makes information readily available to everyone. If nothing is hidden or arcane, the need for professionals is threatened. In a world of accelerating change, “the state of mind demanded by [such] a world… is alien to anyone over forty.”

    References

    Next: The Future Just Happened Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA