The Shift Age is about humanity's new ere. As the Information Age gives way to the Shift Age, we are entering a time of
transformation and change that offers both great risk and incredible opportunity. Originally published in 2007, David Houle
identifies and explains the dynamics and forces that already have reshaped and will continue to reshape our world for the next
20 years. He comments from the front lines of the Shift Age on issues and topics that affect our lives. We have entered the final,
global stage of humanity's cultural, social and economic evolutionary journey: The Shift Age
Table of Contents:
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Shift Age
Chapter 1: The Shift Age in Context
Chapter 2: The Threshold Decades
Chapter 3: The Shift Age
Part II: Commentary on the Shift Age
Introduction
Chapter 4: Going Global
Exit Greenspan, the Economist's Rock Star
The World Cup Points the Way
Made in China
It Is All Global
Debt, Credit, Obligations, and Trust
Damaged Brands
Chapter 5: Technology and Transformation
Sometimes It Is Easy to See the Future: A Futuristic Pocketful
Happy Birthday, PC!
Sometimes It Is Easy to See the Future: Head to the Beach for a Day at Work
Always Faster
Sometimes It Is Easy to See the Future: Is It Real?
Cell Phones Are Transformative
The Future of Video Games
Technology Advances, Privacy Declines
Berkeley and Nanotechnology
A Cell Phone Milestone
Moore's Law Lives On
The iPhone Starts It Up Again
A New Cell Phone Milestone
Chapter 6: Energy and Global Warming
Solving the Energy Problem and Saving Ourselves
Europe All the Time, New York When It Needs To
A Walk on the Beach
Once Again It Starts in California
National Defense Becomes Green
Make Global Warming an Economic Issue
Three Cheers for Titanium Dioxide
A Man Who Is Working to Save the Planet
We Have Only Just Begun
Change the Language, Change the Thinking
Sputnik: 50 Years Later
Chapter 7: Our Automotive Future
An Electric Car
A Man Who Wants to Change the World
The Quest for the Perfect Battery: Part One
The Quest for the Perfect Battery: Part Two
The Compressed Air Car
Chapter 8: A Time of Disintermediation
Disintermediation: A Buzzword to Bring Back
Disintermediation: A Deeper Look
Watching Video, Selling a Home, Buying Insurance
The Political Party in the United States: A Candidate for Disintermediation?
Guilty Pleasures
Disintermediation Is Rarely Partial
Say Good-bye to the 6-percent Commission Rule
Chapter 9: Intellectual Property, the Wealth of the Shift Age
Intellectual Property Is the New Valuation
A Historic Day for Intellectual Property
The Financial Exchange for the 21st Century
The Merchant Banker of Intellectual Capital
Chapter 10: The Morphing of Media
Broadband...Finally!
High-touch Media
A Media Milestone
Three Deaths of a Media Icon
A Book Convention: In the Year 2025
Chapter 11: Culture at the Beginning of the Shift Age
In the Future, Let's All Get Caught Napping
Coffee and Caffeine
The New Coffee Culture and Why It Reflects Our Changing World
New and Threatening Becomes Acceptable and Mainstream
Water
Water Redux
A 20th-century Habit
Time Capsule for 2057
Expanding the Definition of Life
A Happiness Index
2007: Looking Back and Looking Forward
Notes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
