The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business

Description

'This is the most important - and fascinating - book yet written about how the digital age will affect our world.' - Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs 'A brilliant guidebook for the next century... Schmidt and Cohen offer a dazzling glimpse into how the new digital revolution is changing our lives.' - Richard Branson Written by two leading thinkers, this widely anticipated book describes a new, hugely connected world of the future, full of challenges and benefits which are ours to meet and harness. The New Digital Age is the product of an unparalleled collaboration. It is full of the brilliant insights of one of Silicon Valley's great innovators: what Bill Gates was to Microsoft and Steve Jobs was to Apple, Schmidt (along with Larry Page and Sergey Brin) was to Google. Co-author Jared Cohen, the Director of Google Ideas who was formerly an advisor to both Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, makes an equally compelling contribution to the debate. Never before has the future been so vividly and transparently imagined. Schmidt and Cohen explore the technologies that will change lives: information systems that greatly increase productivity, safety and our quality of life, thought-controlled motion technology that can revolutionise medical procedures, and near-perfect translation technology that allows us to have more diversified interactions. They also contemplate our most important future considerations: looking at how we curate our online identity and fight those who would do harm with it; examining the widespread political change that will transform the globe, through a new wave of cyber-terrorism and states operating simultaneously in the physical and virtual realms; and also cover the ever-present threats to our privacy and security. This is a breakthrough book: Schmidt and Cohen outline in great detail and scope all the promise and peril awaiting us in the coming decades in a pragmatic, inspirational and totally fascinating way. Whether a government, a business or an individual, we must understand technology if we want to understand the future.

Eric Schmidt is the Executive Chairman of Google. Prior to joining Google, he was the chairman and CEO of Novell and has held senior positions at a number of illustrious technology companies. He has a degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University as well as a master's and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a member of President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jared Cohen is Director of Google Ideas and an Adjunct Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he served as a member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff and a close advisor to Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, where he focused on the Middle East, South Asia, counter-terrorism, and the development of '21st century statecraft.' He was personally responsible for intervening to keep Twitter operating during the 2009 Green Revolution in Iran. He has a BA from Stanford University and an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University. He is fluent in Swahili.

This is a book that defines both the nature of the new world which the internet is creating; and its challenges. It describes a technological revolution in the making. How we navigate it is a challenge for countries, communities and citizens. There are no two people better equipped to explain what it means than Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen - Tony Blair At last, a brilliant guide book for the next century - what the future holds for entrepreneurs, revolutionaries, politicians and ordinary citizens alike. Schmidt and Cohen offer a dazzling glimpse into how the new digital revolution is changing our lives. This book is the most insightful exploration of our future world that I have ever read, and once I started reading I was simply unable to put it down - Sir Richard Branson Every day, technological innovations are giving people around the world new opportunities to shape their own destinies. In this fascinating book, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen draw upon their unique experiences to show us a future of rising incomes, growing participation, and a genuine sense of community - if we make the right choices today - Bill Clinton Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen's thoughtful, well-researched work elucidates the staggering impact of technology on our daily lives, as well as what surprising and incredible developments the future may hold. Readers might be left with more questions than answers, but that's the idea - we are at our best when we ask "What's next?" - Elon Musk Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen have produced a searching meditation on technology and world order. Even those who disagree with some of their conclusions will learn much from this thought-provoking volume - Henry A. Kissinger The New Digital Age is must reading for anyone who wants to truly understand the depths of the digital revolution. Combining the skills of a social scientist and a computer scientist, Cohen and Schmidt blend the technical and the human, the scientific and the political, in ways I rarely saw while in government. They challenge the reader's imagination on almost every page. Indeed, what will be the impact of virtual and physical worlds coexisting, the first generation of humans to have an indelible record, or more frequent revolutions without resolution as the digital age nurtures more celebrities than leaders. And these questions are just the beginning. Read on - General Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA