Exponential

A revelatory guide to how technology is changing the world, from the creator of Exponential View

We are entering the Exponential Age.

Between faster computers, better software and bigger data, ours is the first era in human history in which technology is constantly accelerating.

Azeem Azhar - writer, technologist, and creator of the acclaimed Exponential View newsletter - understands this shift better than anyone. Technology, he argues, is developing at an increasing, exponential rate. But human society - from our businesses to our political institutions - can only ever adapt at a slower, incremental pace. The result is an 'exponential gap' - between the power of new technology and humans' ability to keep up.

In Exponential, Azhar shows how this exponential gap can explain our society's most pressing problems. The gulf between established businesses and fast-growing digital platforms. Nation states' difficulty responding to new forms of cyberwarfare. And the sclerotic response of liberal democracies to fast-moving social issues.

But the exponential gap is not inevitable. Drawing on fields as varied as economics, political science and psychology, Azhar sketches out how we can harness the power of tech to serve our real needs - fostering innovative approaches to business, politics and national defence.

The result is a holistic new way to make sense of the modern world. Exponential technology is transforming all of our lives. This book explains how.