I took advantage of a summer vacation to read Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End. Rainbow’s End recently won the Hugo Award for science fiction literature. Like any good hard SciFi book, this one portrays a not-too-distant future where technology has fundamentally transformed the human experience. The 2025 Southern California dramatized in Rainbow’s End features pervasive connectivity sub-vocally accessed through smart contact lenses resulting in a world of augmented reality.  The main plot revolves around Alzheimer’s patients who have been “cured†after many years in a vegetative state. The book portrays the challenges these previously successful people face now that they lack the literacies required to command the new technology that runs the modern world.  It’s a good read and if you are into the genre, I highly recommend it.
But the really interesting feature in the novel was the skills that allowed certain characters to thrive in the highly complex, connected, real-time world. The most capable characters had mastered the art of massive collaboration.  Continue reading “A futurist’s take on hyper collaboration”
