Fast Forward Aotearoa: How exponential technology is defining the future of New Zealand...and what we can do about it.

"A techno-optimist's manifesto...Ben Reid may be 50 years ahead of most of us in his thinking, but Fast Forward Aotearoa presents a compelling case for why we urgently need to catch up." - Peter Griffin, BusinessDesk How can New Zealand keep up with the exponential technology change that is shaping the world around us? In 2024, you can feel the pace of technological development accelerating on a weekly basis - from artificial intelligence to virtual reality, robotics to nanotech, biological enhancement to space exploration - breakthroughs in emerging technologies are arriving into our lives and shaping the future we will live in. Ready or not. In parallel, the planet is in the midst of an escalating, hypercomplex, interconnected "Polycrisis" of ecological overshoot, geopolitical instability and techno-capital power concentration. In his new book Fast Forward Aotearoa, technology futurist Ben Reid explores the key technologies which are defining New Zealand's future - and the increasingly concentrated control of giant international technology companies - exposing in the process national vulnerabilities stemming from an endemic lack of strategic thinking about technology in our public sector, businesses and education system. He argues that only by renewed investment in building foresight and development capability to harness the newest, exponentially advancing technologies in collaboration with other aligned parties can these challenges be solved openly and democratically, to secure the future wellbeing and sovereignty of Aotearoa New Zealand's tangata (people), nga puna ora (ecosystems) and whenua (land). The book lays out an outline for a new national technology strategy for New Zealand in the form of "10 missions and 100 technology solutions to Fast Forward Aotearoa". The book also includes stunning, high-impact AI-generated images which imagine possible futures for New Zealand created by Sam Ragnarsson^AI.