• The Fourth Transformation

  • How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything
  • By: Robert Scoble, Shel Israel
  • Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
  • Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (495 ratings)

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The Fourth Transformation  By  cover art

The Fourth Transformation

By: Robert Scoble,Shel Israel
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
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Publisher's summary

Ten years from today, the center of our digital lives will no longer be the smart phone, but device that looks like ordinary eyeglasses: except those glasses will have settings for virtual and augmented reality. What you really see and what is computer generated will be mixed so tightly together, that we won't really be able to tell what is real and what is illusion.

Instead of touching and sliding on a mobile phone, we will make things happen by moving our eyes or by brainwaves. When we talk with someone or play an online game, we will see that person in the same room with us. We will be able to touch and feel her or him through haptic technology.

We won't need to search online with words, because there will be a new Visual Web 100 times larger than the current Internet, and we will find things by images, buy things by brands, or just by looking at a logo on the jacket of a passerby. Language will be irrelevant, and a merchant in a developing world will have access to global markets.

Medical devices will cure schizophrenia, allow quadriplegics to walk. People will be able to touch and feel objects and other people who are not actually there for conversations, games and perhaps intimate experiences.

From kindergarten to on-the-job, learning will become experiential. Children will visit great battlefields and tour historic places in VR rather than read about them in text books. Med students and surgeons will learn and practice on virtual humans rather than cadavers; oil rig workers will understand how to handle emergencies, before the ever leave the home office.

The Fourth Transformation is based on two years of research and about 400 interviews with technologists and business decision makers. It explains the technology and product landscape on a level designed to be interesting and useful to business thinkers and general audiences. Mostly it talks about how VR and AR are already being used, or will be used in the next one-to-three years.

©2016 Robert Scoble and Shel Israel (P)2016 Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

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What listeners say about The Fourth Transformation

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Glance into the future - Feed your inner futurist

What did you love best about The Fourth Transformation?

Puts the latest hype in context. Starts with where we have been, where we are now, and what is just over the horizon. Kept me entertained, even as someone who lives and breathes this stuff as my day job and personal passion.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Humanity. While all this tech is amazing, the focus of the book is on who we are and where we are going as a society - not just on the magical capabilities of technology.

Have you listened to any of Jeffrey Kafer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I never even realized I have heard Jeffery's voice before, but now that you asked... I'm pretty sure he has read many of the books I've read in the past. And he's always a pleasure to listen to.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's always tough to listen to a book about the future. Most of the time, by the time you pick up a book, the author's future has already become the present or is far into the past. This book walks that fine line between examining the trend and predicting the future players and use cases for the technology. At times, predictions in these books will fall flat. But the trend is the more important element, and remains a strong and pervasive theme throughout this book. This will extend it's shelf-life and value far into the future.

For now, this is an entertaining and informative read that rings true to my understanding of ou industry and gave me some practical insights into what is around the corner. Which is exactly what I wanted when I picked up the book.

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8 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Shallow sales pitch

Whole book sounds like a sales pitch aimed at buttering up future investors and consumers of VR products. The narrator tries to sound exciting but completely fails because he sounds more like a malfunctioning cyber bot. No topics in VR are discussed at any deep length. I was hoping to hear deep insights on the potential for VR to reshape society or on the science of how this amazing technology works. But instead I was treated to a product pitch.

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6 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Lousy Cover - Great Book

I literally avoided this book for months because the cover looked stupid. Well, it turns out I was stupid. This book is perfect for tech enthusiasts looking to get a glimpse into a crystal ball revealing the next 10-15 years in the machine-human interface. If you are a tech leader and you are not considering the topic of machine-human interface, you are going the way of the dodo.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not too in-depth overview of VR, AR and MR

It's a nice overview of all the current technologies regarding VR, AR and MR. I liked the fact that the author stayed neutral for most of the subjects he covered. But I found the book to be lacking personal opinions and too much about iterating companies and technologies. If you are a tech enthusiastic, you won't be surprised by anything new.

There are some insights to be learned from the book though. For example: naming the major communication discoveries and technologies 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation was pretty interesting. And the chapter about how grim the world can be if we are all in mixed reality is pretty honest. Seems like my new read will be about IT security and hacking...

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2 people found this helpful

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Mind blown!!

Some books are too technical and get bogged down but this moved along perfectly. Not too long but no need, this is current events and like the exponential growth of technology that changes over night, so would the information provided today and in this book. I VERY much look forward to the next update from these two brilliant minds!

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Optional if you're familiar, necessary if not.

of you're familiar with the current advances, it just reaffirms your view, if you are not familiar with the transformation and over the age of 30, it's a worthwhile intellectual investment to listen as these applications in development are in full swing.

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Good Book, But...

It seemed like the authors were overly commercial at times by placing emphasis on a few specific companies developing 4th Transformation technologies.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Very informative and explaining trend

Would you listen to The Fourth Transformation again? Why?

Not really. I'll try to get the book instead. After listening to forward and first chapter, I'm having difficult time to listen through to the end of the book. The reader, Jeffrey Kafer, has a great voice but way he annotates the whole talk come across as very, very annoying tone. Almost like low tone with valley girl like tone to it. It's hard to describe but more I listen, less desire to wanting to finish the book. I'm using free amazon audible trial. But I'll probably end this trial and try to get the book later date.

How could the performance have been better?

try to read it in more normal voice instead of this "acting voice" with low voice and ends with lower tone at each end of the sentence.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

NO. I'll probably not going to finish after first chapter but will try to pick a book instead.

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A great read to stay on top of VR and MR

A good summary of where artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) are at today, and what mixed reality (MR) will mean for the future - its societal impact and its impact on health care and education. Scoble and Israel see a future in which these technologies will completely transform society and change the way we interact with digital technology.

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good read

it was entertaining but weak on details and rather short. for a person with no background knowledge, it's fine.

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