Welcome to Augment Nation
Moving humanity to the software layer
This newsletter is actually a book.
My students know that I have been talking about the eventual impact of augmented reality for years now. I’ve been developing a new course with Columbia Business School about it, and in parallel, I’ve been creating an outline of a book on the topic.
Typically that process would involve getting a publishing deal, receiving an advance against future sales, writing a manuscript in secrecy, and then finally publishing years later.
Instead, I want to try something different: I am going to write in the open, in realtime, funded by readers.
Each week I will write a section of the book. Over time those sections will form chapters, and those chapters will constitute a book. I already have the basic framework for what to write, but this format also allows for me to incorporate current events when it makes sense.
This book costs $5/month ($1.25 per email) or if paid annually, only $2.50/month ($0.63 per email). Unlike a normal book, you are not only paying to read it, but you are supporting its very existence along the way.
Whenever it is that you join the party, I recommend that you go back to the beginning and start at Chapter 1.
Below is a brief synopsis of what Augment Nation is all about; think of it like what would appear on the back cover.
The eventual mass adoption of augmented reality (AR) will have far-reaching implications that will impact multiple industries and all of human life.
While you might not realize it, this transition is already well under way. Think of all the things in your life that at one time were part of the physical world but are now software. This transformation has been happening for decades, piece by piece, and the mass adoption of smartphones accelerated it dramatically by giving billions of people around the world instant access to the Internet whenever they want.
AR will move that access from being an active activity (choosing to take your phone out, unlocking it, and then using it) to a passive activity (present all the time).
When I was working at Apple in 2006, the year before the iPhone was announced, no one (including me) knew that the world was about to experience a major paradigm shift. Even after its release, the ultimate impact that iPhone and other smartphones were going to have was not immediately obvious. That was almost 15 years ago. We are due for another such shift.
Rather than attempting to predict when and how AR will break out, or to debate whether it will or not (although you can imagine which side of that debate I’d fall on!), Augment Nation will aim to describe the world as it will be after mass adoption has already happened. It will read like fiction, painting a vivid picture of a future where advanced AR is as ubiquitous as smartphones are today.
Welcome to Augment Nation.
Table of Contents
Linked chapters are available now. Subscribe to read the rest as it is released each week.
Chapter 1
Augment Nation
We are already in augmented reality; we just don’t realize it.
Chapter 1 / Part 1 - Continuum (free)
Chapter 1 / Part 2 - Movie Magic
Chapter 2
Hacking Consciousness
Your brain cannot tell fact from fiction.
Chapter 3
Moving Humanity to the Software Layer
A ubiquitous AR future.
Chapter 4
Democratizing Experience and Expertise
Equal access is a powerful thing.
Chapter 5
Being Physical is so 20th Century
The repercussions of ditching the physical world.
Chapter 6
No Industry is Safe
The potential impact of AR on various business sectors.
Chapter 7
Government and Regulation
How should we regulate things that are not there?
Chapter 8
What Now?
What you should do with your newfound understanding of an AR future.