Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations
Your highlights:What’s in it for me? Discover why living in the Age of Acceleration might not be as bad as you think.
Unlike generations before us, people alive today must constantly adapt and readapt to rapid changes in technology, society and the economy. The good news is that some people have found ways to harness this new reality to improve the human condition.
18 March, 2020 01:19 Share
The age of acceleration began in 2007, launching an era of constant adaptation.
In 2007, the technological acceleration described by Moore’s law contributed to, and coincided with, accelerations in the market, evidenced by increased global commerce, rapidly growing social networks and an information tsunami. At the same time, mother nature was experiencing an acceleration in the form of climate change and population explosions.So, what does that all mean for life on Earth?Put simply, it means that this is a time of constant adaptation. If prior epochs of history were characterized by occasional destabilization, the modern world is one of near-constant destabilization; humans must constantly reevaluate their ecosystem, remaining agile in order to adapt to a rapidly changing world.That doesn’t mean you can’t attain stability in today’s world. But rather than a static stability, you can expect a dynamic stability, like the one you experience while riding a bike. It’s not the kind of stability that lets you stand still, but it will keep you afloat if you stay in motion.
18 March, 2020 01:20 Share
Technology is transforming at a rate never seen before.
It’s clear that such growth isn’t natural and we can already see it disrupting the world. For instance, a few years back, digitization disrupted dairy farms in upstate New York. For decades before that, milking cows involved manual labor on the part of farm workers, but now computers are increasingly being used to control and monitor udders, supply chains and milk flow.As a result, the successful cow milkers of tomorrow may not match the image we often envision of a farmer sloshing around in the mud; the farmers of tomorrow may actually be sharply dressed data analysts.Now, this could be good news. After all, digitizing milking means fresher milk and less manual labor; but it’s also a depressing thought. It perfectly encapsulates a major problem, namely that countless mid-level jobs are disappearing and being supplanted by software programs and a few lowly laborers.Just take a study done by the University of Oxford in 2013, which found that a whopping 47 percent of American jobs are at very high risk of being supplanted by computers in the next 20 years.Beyond that, technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that it becomes obsolete every five to seven years. Consider Blackberry smartphones or MySpace – can you think of anyone who uses either of them anymore?
18 March, 2020 01:25 Share
Market globalization has fostered an increasingly interconnected world.
It’s this level of interconnectivity that enables products to go viral at a scale and speed that was unfathomable in past generations. For example, in 2012, a photo of Michelle Obama wearing a dress from the online fashion store ASOS was retweeted 816,000 times and the dress instantly sold out.
18 March, 2020 01:23 Share
Climate change is accelerating, threatening to turn the world upside down.
Well, Americans may be focused on the migration of people from the Middle East into Europe, but two-thirds of all migration comes from other places, and most frequently as a result of climate change. In fact, shifting global weather patterns, resulting in droughts in Africa, produce more migrants than any other factor or phenomenon. Terrorism, unemployment and generally frightening futures in these failing African states can be linked to worsening environmental degradation, and leads these countries’ citizens to head for European shores.To make matters worse, there’s no sign that climate change will slow down. According to the United Nations, by 2050, the world population is expected to rise from around 7.2 billion today to 9.7 billion. All those additional people will mean more cars, more homes, more water and electricity consumption and a far greater carbon footprint.
18 March, 2020 01:24 Share
The age of acceleration may bring up some issues, but it has also enabled individuals to work toward the common good.
Technology and globalization have made it possible for anyone with a basic education and access to the internet to help humanity make collaborative decisions, while also handling the challenges these same trends produce.
18 March, 2020 01:25 Share
By acknowledging the need for change, visionary leaders in the community helped support a rapidly growing middle class through good jobs and a great school system. People helped each other overcome their problems and, pretty soon, partisanship, prejudice and pessimism were things of the past.As a result, the community there today is thriving and harmonious. For instance, 70 percent of voters still support funding schools, even though only 15 percent of the population have children of school age.
18 March, 2020 01:25 Share
Final summary
The world is changing more quickly than ever. Rapidly evolving technology, global markets and climate change all imply significant accelerations to the pace of life – and these factors are exerting a major impact on our lives. In this wild new world, working together for the common good may be humanity’s last hope.
18 March, 2020 01:25 Share
About the book:
Thank You for Being Late (2016) is all about acceleration – of the economy, of technology and of our environment. These blinks explain why the world is moving at an increasingly rapid pace, outlining the dangers this trend can bring as well as what we stand to gain from it.
About the author:
Thomas L. Friedman is a reporter, columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is currently a foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and is the author of such other books as From Beirut to Jerusalem, The Lexus and the Olive Tree and The World Is Flat.
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