On his recent 68th birthday, acclaimed futurist, best-selling author, and global tech authority Kevin Kelly took a moment to reflect back on his nearly seven decades of life. The result—sixty-eights bits of unsolicited advice. In this episode, Nelda sits down to discuss these "bytes" of wisdom.
Acclaimed futurist Kevin Kelly has always had his finger on the pulse of what he calls the Technium or ecosystem of technologies. He authored the best-selling New Rules for the New Economy and the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control. As co-founder of Wired, the preeminent source for how technology affects culture, economy, and politics, and former editor of Whole Earth Review which covers unorthodox technical news, Kelly is an advocate for taking the long view—the really long view. From his celebrated books and publications to his online footprint, Kelly is investing time and energy into processes and research that will benefit humankind for tens of thousands of years.
Kelly’s efforts include The Long Now Foundation, a cultural institution whose mission is to promote long-term thinking and reframe the notion of time. Projects include a self-sustaining clock embedded in a west Texas mountain built to run for ten thousand years. As a symbol of time, the clock is an iconic reminder to invest in things for the distant future. Says Kelly, “The point is to explore whatever may be helpful for thinking, understanding, and acting responsibly for tens of thousands of years.”
Kelly’s philosophy is that just knowing that things like the clock are possible can suggest even greater ideas. Ideas are Kelly’s stock-in-trade. With his daily blog Cool Tools and weekly newsletter Recomendo, he shares thoughts and recommendations on anything that could be considered a “tool”—defined broadly as anything useful. Recently, Kelly even offered up 68 bits of unsolicited advice to mark his 68th birthday.
With another season passing, Kelly reflects, “the only real gift that we have on our short life here is our time and how we use that time is really far more important than what we say or what we intend or what we actually preach.”
There is no question, this future thinker is using his time wisely.
