The Swiss Army Knife Is a Special Tool

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I see both in the space people going after all in one tools, as well as building super, super niche specific versions of specific tools. You can make a case that the Swiss Army Knife is a specialized tool. There's a specialized tool in this being promoted as a general purpose multi-use tool. So there will always be kind of new specialized tools. But if you would say, well, a technology has been around a long time, I don't know, cars, a lot of my bills, there is, I guess you could say, a general purpose car,. A car that does off-roading and suburban car and long haul and is lightweight.

We explore technology's origins, what technology wants, and advising Steven Spielberg on Minority Report. We’re joined by Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of WIRED. We cover what technology wants, Magic Leap and virtual worlds, and Kevin’s work on Minority Report..

“What is this thing we call technology? In the cosmological sense, like, where does it fit in? How does it relate to life? And my current summary would be that it is an extension of life and therefore is not contrary to life. It's an extended version of life—and that gives me hope, because it means that we can always make a greener version of whatever we make.” – Kevin Kelly

EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/kevin-kelly-outliers-show-notes

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/kevin-kelly-outliers-transcript

CHAPTERS

This episode is our definitive guide to technology's origins, what technology wants. In it we cover:

(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:38) – The turning point for Kevin's relationship with technology
(00:06:32) – What technology wants
(00:12:05) – General purpose vs. specialized technology
(00:17:49 – Kevin's start with Wired magazine
(00:25:59) – Magic Leap and virtual worlds
(00:34:19) – Kevin's work on Minority Report
(00:39:03) – Kevin’s newsletter, Recomendo

ABOUT KEVIN KELLY AND WIRED

Kevin Kelly was the Founding Executive Editor at WIRED magazine and is the author of multiple bestselling books, including What Technology Wants and the New York Times bestseller The Inevitable: Understanding The 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future. His perspectives of science and technology have been featured in the New York Times, The Economist, and Time Magazine.

Kevin helped shape the world of Minority Report as a futurist advisor to Stephen Spielberg, and he helped dream up the gestural interface shown in the film, which is something we talk about a little bit in the interview. Today, Kevin publishes a weekly newsletter called Recomendo as well as the weekly podcast, Cool Tools.

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ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY

Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy

ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER

Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.

Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner

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