Optimist's Tour of the Future-Mark Stevenson Interview

Yves de Contades went to interview Mark Stevenson. His latest book is an inspired tour of what is going to happen next in our world and how it is happening faster than we think.
An Optimists Tour of the Future manages to entertain and cover a vast range of topics with fluid ease. Erudite, fascinating, exhilarating and packed full of heroic characters. Not to mention a rich vein of possible investment sources. We give it 5 stars.
What inspired you to create this book An Optimists Tour of the Future?
I wanted to write about the scientific horizon for a wide audience, because there's a revolution coming and more of us should be informed. It's worth noting the book didn't start off with a reference to optimism in the title. That came later, when I'd seen the grand chances we have.
What aspects of the future does it deal with and how fast do you think these changes will happen?
I deal with biotechnology, robotics, nanotechnology, networks, what's happening with the climate and agriculture (but also explore mega-trends, matters of philosophy and the role of institutions. As to when things will happen? At different times in different places. If you choose to ignore this revolution there will be consequences, just as there were for nations and companies that didn't get industrialism.
How important do you think psychology will be in both handling the changes to come and in the development of interfaces, infotech, robotics and AI?
If you're trying to build social machines (and I met the people who are) you find yourself shedding new light on age-old questions such as 'what is consciousness?' When you try to build something conscious you begin to break it down into separate questions, and helping us understand the human condition more, which is useful stuff for the coming age.
As an optimist do you think that the trend is for things to get better?
I'm not saying the future will be better, I'm saying it could be and everyone of good conscience should be in that game.
All the fascinating people you met for this book, do they have any one or many characteristics in common and who left you with the most indelible impression?
Yes, all were driven by a desire to make the world better, and none of them were waiting for permission. A special mention must go to President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives who shared his journey from being tortured by his predecessor to bringing about a non-violent democratic revolution in his homeland. It puts your own obstacles into sharp perspective.
What changes do you think we will need to make individually and as an international society?
My biggest battles are to police the cynicism we've been brought up to think is wise and to work more collaboratively, rather than revert to the antagonistic, polarisation of positions that characterizes so much 'discussion' in our society. On a broader level we need to radically re-think the unmitigated disaster that is our education systems, which stifle creativity, stigmatise mistakes and treat our children like widgets. Lot's of parents complain their children ask too many questions. Don't worry, by the time they leave school, the majority of them will have stopped.
What technology do you think will change our lives the most over the next decade?
Language. People don't think of it as a technology, but it is (and we can use it better to dismantle some of our existing and damaging social norms.
What projects are you currently working on?
A second book, a second play (the first has just gone into production), hopefully a TV version of this book (but broadcast is like herding cats' with jelly) and the launch of the League of Pragmatic Optimists (a meeting place for do-ers. Also, I've just become an advisor to a large social networking project in Africa which we're leveraging for social good. The cognitive surplus waiting to be connected there is truly inspiring.
Mark Stevenson is the author of "An Optimists Tour of the Future" published by Profile Books