Chapter 110: Kevin Kelly on quashing quandaries with curiosity and creativity

Published: Aug. 27, 2022, 8:17 a.m.

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Kevin Kelly is a man of many titles.

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Krista Tippett calls him a \\u2018philosopher technologist\\u2019, Tim Ferriss calls him \\u2018the world\\u2019s most interesting man\\u2019, and Stephen J. Dubner says simply, \\u201cIf I was the Queen, I would want Kevin Kelly on my Privy Council.\\u201d

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Kevin Kelly is the first person \\u2014 ever! \\u2014 to be hired online. When? 1983. For what job? A fascinating one! We\\u2019re going to talk about it. He dropped out of college after a year to spend ten years backpacking around Asia. (His photos have just been released in a wonderful paperweight-dwarfing book called Vanishing Asia.) In the same breath he might drop stories of spending time with the Amish just as easily as chatting with Google\\u2019s founders in the late 90s. His online home, kk.org, is a fountain of deeply insightful and wise blog posts, such as, 1000 True Fans and his annual bits of birthday advice (which are coming out as a book next year!)

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Kevin also edited The Whole Earth Catalog, founded The Hacker\\u2019s Conference, and is Co-chair of the Board of the Long Now Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to encouraging long term thinking and which is, right now, building a clock in a mountain that will tick for 10,000 years.

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See why titles don\\u2019t really work with Kevin? I mean, sure, he calls himself a \\u2018packager of ideas\\u2019 and the Internet may know him best as \\u2018Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine\\u2019 (which he cofounded in 1993.) But he\\u2019s also written a series of prophetic bestsellers including: What Technology Wants (2010) and The Inevitable (2016). That last book came out six years ago but it lays out the future of technology over the next thirty. Clear and clairvoyant, Kevin\\u2019s words helped me feel more positive about the omnipresent magnetic pull of technology we\\u2019re all breathing in today. I would recommend it especially if, like me, you\\u2019re occasionally prone to digging your heels in the dirt, throwing your smartphone out the window, and screaming \\u201cI don\\u2019t wanna!\\u201d

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Kevin Kelly is a kind, wise, and optimistic finger-pointer. And, unlike most mystics, fortune tellers, and futurists, he\\u2019s got a long track record of being right.

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We are very lucky to have Kevin Kelly join us on 3 Books.

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Let\\u2019s flip the page into Chapter 110 now\\u2026

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What You\'ll learn:

  • What makes for a good podcast conversation?

  • What are the different types of vacation?

  • How might you plan a vacation to optimize learning?

  • Why are books a long-term technology?

  • What does technology want?

  • How might AI change us?

  • How do you define optimism?

  • How is technology both the problem and the solution?

  • How do we learn to think longer term?

  • What are recursive loops and how do they help explain the world?

  • Why should we strive to engage in infinite games for growth?

  • Why is population a concern?

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You can find show notes and more information by clicking here:\\xa0https://www.3books.co/chapters/110

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Leave us a voicemail. Your message may be included in a future chapter: 1-833-READ-A-LOT.\\xa0\\xa0

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Sign up to receive podcast updates here:\\xa0https://www.3books.co/email-list\\xa0

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3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world\'s most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Bren\\xe9 Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, Judy Blume and Quentin Tarantino. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every single new moon and every single full moon all the way up to 5:21 am on September 1, 2031. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show and is 100% non-profit with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. 3 Books has 3 clubs including the End of the Podcast Club, the Cover to Cover Club, and the Secret Club, which operates entirely through the mail and is only accessible by calling\\xa01-833-READ-A-LOT. Each chapter is hosted by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. For more info check out:\\xa0https://www.3books.co

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