I went to my first computer conference at the New York Hilton about 20 years ago. Years later, Hillis went back to the same hotel. He noticed that the room keys had been replaced by electronic cards you slide into slots in the doors. Danny Hillis may have seen that future for microprocessors, but at that computer conference two decades ago, that insight was in short supply. Innovation is occurring at a breathtaking pace.
Industrial cycles appear to be getting shorter and shorter.
I promised you a framework for thinking about what lies ahead. So far I've described disruption that is ubiquitous and pervasive, occurring at ever-greater frequencies. That's dangerously close to a definition of chaos. But let's not despair yet. Today, the combination of new knowledge and innovation are the driving forces of the current economic expansion.