Azeem Azhar

We are entering the Exponential Age.

Between faster computers, better software and bigger data, ours is the first era in human history in which technology is constantly accelerating. Azeem Azhar - writer, technologist, and creator of the acclaimed Exponential View newsletter - understands this shift better than anyone. Technology, he argues, is developing at an increasing, exponential rate. But human society - from our businesses to our political institutions - can only ever adapt at a slower, incremental pace. The result is an 'exponential gap' - between the power of new technology and humans' ability to keep up. 

In Exponential, Azhar shows how this exponential gap can explain our society's most pressing problems. The gulf between established businesses and fast-growing digital platforms. The inability of nation states to deal with new forms of cyberwarfare. And the sclerotic response of liberal democracies to fast-moving social problems. But the exponential gap is not inevitable. Drawing on fields as varied as economics, political science and psychology, Azhar sketches out how we can harness the power of tech to serve our real needs - fostering new ways of doing business, innovative forms of politics, and fresh approaches to national defence.