Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.

I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

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Today is September 6, 2017.

I guess this author, futurist, publisher Silicon Valley Guru Tim O'Reilly.

Founder of O'Reilly Media, our subject for today is his new book, WTF.

What's the future and why it's up to us Tim? Welcome back to Econ Talk.

Thanks very much for having me, Russ.

Now, your book is quite amazing. It's part memoir, part history of technology.

It's also some preaching about how we might hold the future.

And to start with, I want to talk about how much your book reminds us

and makes us pay attention to how much and how fast the world has changed in recent years.

Here's a quote from the book where you talk about going back way back to the past to 1998.

In 1998, it's hard to remember. It's less than 20 years ago. So here's the quote.

Of course, some of my listeners won't, this is not the quote yet. Some of my listeners won't appreciate this quote because they're 19.

But for those of you who live through 1998, it will remind you of just how much things have changed. Here's the quote now.

Software was distributed in shrink-wrapped boxes with new releases coming at best annually, often every two or three years.

Only 42% of US households had a personal computer versus the 80% who own a smart phone today.

...