Review: What Technology Wants

Kevin Kelly outlines a view of technology that is simultaneously mystic and grounded. Technology, or as he refers to it as "the technium" is a natural progression of the universe. It is the next step above atoms, molecules, organisms, and minds. It is the next step in evolution. It is the result of extropic processes. It is the result of information density rising. It is the result of mating minds.

It is the result of profit-seeking agents.

Kelly is careful about these things which can seem mystic. He makes good points about how technological growth show the same patterns of evolution- convergence, divergence, diversity and explosive growth being key themes he explores. But i wish he would have talked more about the mechanisms. When he refers to Moore's Law as the result of corporate cycles he surely hit the mark. Why every 2 years? Because thats what companies in the 50s planned for, and after the law was made thats what they insisted upon. Its the sums of mechanisms like this that make up the growth and expansion of technology and I wish Kelly would talk more about them.

His book was good. I think I might be too invested in his worldview already to get anything more out of it, but to somebody who doesnt understand