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Kevin Kelly On Tech, Optimism And Living Well – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #889 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to

Let’s delve into the kaleidoscopic journey of Kevin Kelly, a titan of technology and innovation, who launched Wired magazine in 1993 (and happens to be one of my favorite writers and Thinkers about “what’s next?”). After seven years as Executive Editor, he still holds the fort as Senior Maverick. Twice during his reign, Wired clinched the National Magazine Awards for General Excellence – the magazine industry’s equivalent to Oscars. Flashback to 1984-1990, Kevin wore the hats of both publisher and editor of Whole Earth Review, a journal serving unconventional conceptual news. With Kevin at the helm, it earned the distinction of being the first consumer magazine to cover virtual reality, ecological restoration, and Internet culture, among other trend-setting topics. His 1988 creation, Signal, evaluated emerging digital technologies, effectively setting the stage for Wired magazine. Later, in 2003, he crafted the Cool Tools website to feature daily tool reviews, culminating in a bestseller book, and eventually, the weekly recommendation list, Recomendo, boasting over 60,000 subscribers (of which I am one… and never miss an issue). Kevin’s early digital footprint can be traced back to 1985 when he helped lay the foundation for The WELL, one of the pioneers in forming online communities. His tech experiments didn’t stop there – he launched Cyberthon in 1990, the first-ever 24-hour virtual reality event, and co-founded the annual Hackers’ Conference. Kevin’s pen dances across a variety of subjects, from machines turning biological (Out of Control, 1994) to digital economy rules (New Rules for the New Economy, 1998) and the inevitable technological trends of the future (The Inevitable, 2016). His works echo in pieces like 1000 True Fans, and his latest book, Excellent Advice For Living. With a knack for photography, Kevin’s snapshots have found home in Life and other national magazines. His nomadic photography journeys culminated in a 3-volume magnum opus, Vanishing Asia, preserving the fading cultures of Asia through 9,000 pictures. As a founding board member of The Long Now Foundation, Kevin promotes long-term thinking, epitomized by their 10,000-year clock and library project. Kevin Kelly’s journey illustrates a passion for innovation and an unyielding curiosity about the future. I couldn’t be more excited to talk with him. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose): #889 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.