The 2020s: The Most Disruptive Decade in History Book 1

I completely agree with the author that the global environmental crisis will dominate all near future political issues and technology advances. However, it would be naïve to believe that current world leaders would somehow cooperate to develop a coordinated plan to save spaceship Earth from environmental Armageddon. Over the next ten years and into the 2030s, global warming will gradually accelerate major natural catastrophes all over the planet. Rising ocean levels will threaten chronic flooding of all the major port cities throughout the world. Hurricanes will batter the east coast of America. Wildfires will intensify in America’s western states. Major ice storms could cause major power outages and fuel disruptions in the major cities of Scandinavia, Russia and Europe. Draught could cripple major regions of Africa, India and China. Only when the major world economic powers actually experience the unfolding environmental crisis might world leaders realize, too late, the need for global corrective measures.In the 3000 years of literate history on Earth, mankind has not yet learned to use his God-given gift of free will for making peace with his fellow man. Humans have barely evolved from highly territorial alpha-male chimpanzees, our genealogical origins. As a species, we have demonstrated in our presence on Earth a stubborn persistence to wage war rather than negotiate peace. Current world leaders and their near-term successors are not likely to reconsider their nationalistic priorities over the sacrifice they would have to make to accommodate remediation of global environmental crises... A. F. Garcia is the author of “A Skeptic’s God: The Irrelevance of Religion in a Modern World”.

Ever since as a teenager I discovered Future Shock by the late great Alvin Toffler, I have been fascinated with and loved reading about the future: what is coming, what impact it will have and how we can impact it positively. David Houle’s latest work informs us across all three of these dimensions. It helps us recognize and avoid legacy thinking (viewing the present and future through thoughts from the past), which we need to do because a tsunami of disruption he identifies is coming at us in this decade. He looks at technology not only from a technical standpoint but how it will influence human behavior, and he sees a fast-growing symbiosis between humans and “machines”. His outlook includes a number of thought-provoking concepts like Space-Based Consciousness, the Duality of Self and Technological Intelligence (don’t call it AI).A quick, insightful and actionable perspective on the extraordinary decade that is already upon us.

Must read, period. David breaks down where we 'are at' as a civilization, in the big picture of human history, and what we need to do now in order to save ourselves from ourselves! How do we leverage the best of what we have done and the resources available - politically, socially, economically, and on a human level - to deal with these challenging times (and more to come). How do we come through the challenges smarter and better equipped for future generations. As a father of a 5 year old son, I am thinking about him and the generation that comes after. David's well-researched and informed perspectives are both pragmatic and optimistic at the same time. This is not going to be easy, but we have to "face the future" head on, and in a unified fashion.

I first came across David with his Entering the Shift Age work, and find him to have an excellent pulse of trends that shape our world. This last book was another great example of that. This one was short enough to read ( i read it in 1/2 a day) for those of us with busy schedules, and thoroughly thought provoking. It will bring you up to a 40,000 foot high view, and weave you through social, political, environmental and personal matters worth considering. I recommend it for anyone in search of a pulse of the forces at play in this dynamic period and a look at how we got here.

I found Book One of the series 2020s to be a quick and easy read. It is filled with many facts and quotes concerning what the coming decade may look like depending on many factors which the author goes over in detail. I enjoyed his format of creating small books at a fair price. Looking forward to more of the 2020 books which include topics such as AI, evolutionary acceleration, etc.The only suggestion I might offer for the next book would be to insert a couple graphs or charts to visually back up the information being offered.I highly recommend this book!

I love the position of the authors to look at what we can do individually and collectively. They give us a time frame that tells us we need to get moving on these changes. Critics will fight against it, but in every era, there have been critics that come along kicking and screaming. The truth is, this book gives you things to think about and act upon so you can be ready for what is to come.

I enjoyed this book. Excellent material and well written. However the book would benefit greatly with the inclusion of several graphics and charts illustrating the material presented.The 4article starts and not 5.

This is another great read that continues to expand on David’s amazing work in The Shift Age. There are so few people that I’ve encountered in life that see the world so clearly and David applies his gift to practical predictions for the future. For anyone in business this book is a must read!