Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change

Everyone knows that today’s rate of technological change is unprecedented. With technological breakthroughs from the Internet to cell phones to digital music and pictures, everyone knows that the social impact of technology has never been as profound.

But everyone is wrong. In fact, the pace of change isn’t notably faster than in times past and most “revolutionary” technologies are just refinements of past breakthroughs. Using dozens of entertaining examples, high-tech industry veteran Bob Seidensticker debunks nine technology myths, proving

The rate of change is not exponential (myth #1),
Important new products don’t arrive any faster than they ever have (myth #3),
The Internet doesn’t really change everything (myth #8), and much more.

Future Hype exposes the hidden costs of technology and will help both consumers and businesses take a shrewder position when the next ‘essential’ innovation is trotted out.