What Technology Wants
Loading…

What Technology Wants

Kevin Kelly

4.3454 learners

In *What Technology Wants*, visionary Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly upends our rigid views of tech as cold tools or looming threats. Drawing from decades of hands-on experience—from living off-grid to building early online communities—he argues technology is not a human invention to control, but a living, evolving "technium"—the 7th kingdom of life, extending 4 billion years of cosmic evolution. Kelly unpacks how exotropy (the force of order against entropy) drives tech’s inevitable trajectory: convergent evolution mirrors biological patterns, with key inventions emerging independently across cultures. He explores tech’s dual nature—its ability to expand human freedom and potential, yet risk eroding connection and autonomy. Using the Amish’s deliberate tech selection as a model, he offers a roadmap for co-evolving with tech: not rejecting it, but choosing mindfully to align its growth with human values, turning the "infinite game" of tech evolution into a partnership that enriches both humanity and the cosmos.

convergent evolutionTechniumExotropySynchronous InventionInfinite Game
Concept

Technium Core Definition

The Technium refers to the entire interconnected system of all technologies, tools, inventions, and cultural extensions that evolves as a collective, life-like entity independent of full human control.

EvolutionTechnologyLife System
Concept

Seventh Kingdom of Life

Technology forms the seventh kingdom of life on Earth, separate from the 6 existing biological kingdoms. It shares the same 4-billion-year evolution root as all natural life forms.

SymbiosisBiologyTechnium
Insight

13 Trends Shape Tech Evolution

13 exotropy-driven trends including efficiency improvement, diversity expansion and autonomy growth push the Technium to evolve continuously toward higher complexity and more possibilities.

DevelopmentExotropyTech Trend
No more