Three hundred years ago the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution began

Preface Three hundred years ago the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution began their pounding work on the foundations of an ancient order. Like twin hammers, these forces demolished most of what once seemed permanent: Kings, alchemists, popes, feudal lords - they were all undone. Today, a fresh hammer is cracking away at our world. The demands of constant, instant connection are tearing at old power arrangements. The formation of networks of all kinds, for trade and biology and finance and warfare and any ofa thousand varied needs, is producing new and still dimly understood sources of power. They are eroding the roots of an older order even as a new one is beginning to appear. In fact, this process is only beginning. The networks ahead of us will be even faster than those we have today. They will also be informed by artificial intelligence. The combination of these two forces - instantness and thinking machines - will further deepen an already profound change. That last great shift of the Enlightenment was a violent and wonderful transformation. It produced winners and losers, triggered tragedy and lit fresh triumphs. What lies ahead of us is the same. A new landscape of power is emerging now. This book is its story, and the tale of the instinct that will divide those who master it from those who will be mastered by it. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018235