Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Technology Will Transform Business in the 21st Century [Hardcover]

James Canton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1561706531 | ISBN-13: 978-1561706532 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999

This text is about the rapidly shifting leading-edge technologies that are reshaping our world. It guides the reader on how to navigate the future and understand these strategic innovations which are changing the rules of business, careers, and society. Powerful technological forces that we do not as yet fully comprehend are radically shaping our tomorrows. This book offers an explanation of these advances while providing suggestions on how you can enhance the productivity and quality of your life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr. Canton has given us an engaging, entertaining, yet thought-provoking glimpse of the future. -- Dr. Teruaki Aoki, President and COO, Sony Electronics, Inc.

Insightful and on the mark. A must-read for any cyber entrepreneur. -- Ted Leonsis, President, America Online Interactive Properties Group

Technofutures is the essential guide to the future of business. It is bold and provocative, yet realsitic. -- Rudy Burger CEO MIT's Media Lab - Europe

This marvelous and realistic insight into the future makes reevaluate everything in the future society . . . a brilliant futurist. -- Dr. Nino Vidovic, Vice President, AT&T Labs

From the Publisher

Technofutures is a unique book is the essential guide to the future of innovation. Every page reads holds the reader's attention as futuristic scenarios of the future become realistic and understandable.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 285 pages
• Publisher: Hay House (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561706531
• ISBN-13: 978-1561706532
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,065,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Canton, Ph.D.

Futurist, Author and Visionary Business Advisor
www.FutureGuru.com

Dr. James Canton is a renowned global futurist, social scientist, keynote presenter, author, and visionary business advisor. For over 30 years, he has been insightfully predicting the key trends that have shaped our world. He is a leading authority on future trends in innovation and The Economist recognizes him as one of the leading futurists, worldwide. He is the author of The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World in the 21st Century, Dutton 2006, and Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Innovations Will Transform Business in the 21st Century, Next Millennium Press, 2004.

Dr. Canton is CEO and Chairman of the Institute for Global Futures, a leading think tank he founded in 1990 that advises business and government on future trends. He advises the Global Fortune 1000 on trends in innovation, financial services, health care, population, life sciences, energy, security, workforce, climate change and globalization. From a broad range of industries, clients include: IBM, BP, Intel, Philips, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Boeing, FedEx, and Proctor & Gamble. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Research in Innovation at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and on the advisory board of the Corporate Eco Forum. He has advised three White House Administrations, the National Science Foundation and MIT's Media Lab, Europe.

Recognized as "one of the top presenters in the 21st century" by Successful Meetings Magazine, Dr. Canton is a highly sought-after keynote presenter. He has spoken to thousands of organizations on five continents. He is noted for his fascinating, informative, dynamic and entertaining keynotes.

A frequent guest of the media, Dr. Canton is a commentator on CNN. He was named "the Digital Guru" by CNN and "Dr. Future" by Yahoo. Dr. Canton's media coverage has included CNBC, Fox, PBS, ABC, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg Report, The New York Times, US News and World Report, CEO, CIO and CFO Magazines. His Global Futurist blog is followed by a world-wide audience.

Dr. Canton serves as Co-chairman of the Futures and Forecasting Track at Singularity University. Singularity University is educating a new generation of leaders to use advanced technologies to transform the planet for the better. This first year of the program has brought together an outstanding faculty to enable the leaders of tomorrow

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant insight on key trends and innovations., September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Technology Will Transform Business in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

This is one futurist in a million that has it right! From the future of electronic commerce, robots, bioscience, computers and more--it is a comprehensive tour of the next century written by a noted futurist who makes sense. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in preparing for the future and in understanding the tech chaos all around us. Easy to read, accessible and imaginative for the CEO or college student.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will Our Future Be Technofutures?, April 10, 2002

By 

Peggy Wong (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Technology Will Transform Business in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

TechnoFutures is written by Dr. James Canton. Dr. Canton is one of the leading technology futurists, and he is editor-in-chief of the Canton Technology Report. This book is about how technology will continue to bring impacts and changes, both economically and socially, to our lives. With the evolution of technological development, the interaction between human and technology will become inseparable.

According to the author, in terms of economic changes, e-business will eventually dominate the traditional business practice. The industries that will be transformed by e-business included stock brokerage, insurance, travel, auto, chemicals, media and entertainment, computer and electronics, telecommunications, real estate, medicine and health care, etc. As Dr. Canton suggested, if we want to survive through the 21st century, we must learn how to adopt e-business technology.

In terms of social impacts, technology will bring impacts at both the personal and collective levels. In the future, our personal lives will involve computers, robots and virtual reality. Robots and computers will play a role as a companion such as a housekeeper, a secretary, or even a friend to human. And as for human, we will engage more activities via virtual reality such as playing golf. For the latter one, educational changes will be a good example. Educational institutions will change their formats of teaching. Instead of the traditional classroom learning, students and teachers will meet via virtual schools.

By means of frequent sidebars, the author has provided readers an insight of our evolving technological world with vivid scenes and dialogues amongst the robots, cyber companions and human. However, the design and placement of these sidebars, often of similar fonts right in between the texts proper, could sometimes be confusing. Also, the author could have arranged the hierarchy, if any, of the sub- and sub-sub-titles of his chapters better, so that the readers can better digest the often far-fetched subject matters. Indeed, the subject matters discussed sometimes verged on science fiction rather than scientific prediction. This is most evident in the author¡¦s discussion of cyborgs and androids, all, perhaps coincidentally, also prominently featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I do appreciate, however, the author¡¦s efforts in making technical matters easier to understand for lay persons. There is, as far as I can see, no one single formula in the book. The author is also good in presenting moral issues for deeper thoughts, such as that concerning eugenics.

Although Dr. Canton¡¦s future world may seem too advanced for most of us, we are in fact living in an information society. This book has provided me a chance to be aware of our technological developments and dare me to envision our future world from a non-traditional perspective. Overall, I enjoy reading the book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, informative and captivating, February 29, 2000

By 

Andrew Donahey (San Francisco - California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Technology Will Transform Business in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

Dr. Canton is Heinleinesque in the way he weaves a coherent, congruent, knowledgeable and thoroughly entertaining story about the future of technology and its influence on our lives. I believe his predictions serve as a blueprint for where to position your career, investments and personal interests over the next half century. I was blown away by his insight into the future of medicine, specifically and quite selfishly, his prediction that I may clone my favorite dog right down to its personality. Dr. Canton forced me to my learning and dreaming edge, right where you want to be if your goal is to endeavor into the technological fray, but aren't sure exactly how and where.