Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a business futurist specializing in technology trends including big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Patrick is the author of the book Anarchy, Inc.: Profiting in a Decentralized World with Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (2018, Authority Publishing) and a former speaker for Bloomberg TV. He has lectured at various academic institutions including Purdue and Stanford Universities. The macro trend from centralized to decentralized power structures is sowing the seeds of anarchy in our society and businesses need to understand these trends in order to thrive in tomorrow’s economy. Patrick’s keynote program on decentralization and anarchy will explain the tribal, individualistic and increasing self-reliance we see growing within our cultures, contributing to movements such as Brexit, Donald Trump, the Tea Party, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street.

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Excerpt from “Anarchy, Inc.” (which is being released in March 2018)

Don’t ask, “Who’s gonna eat our lunch?”

Ask instead, “Who else’s lunch can we eat?!”

Anarchy is coming. Decentralization is accelerating, and technology is facilitating the trend. Nobody trusts traditional institutions or authority figures anymore. Bitcoin, open source, Uber, social media and the Arab Spring are all examples of anarchy in action. Tomorrow’s leaders need to understand these trends if they wish to thrive in tomorrow’s economy.

Washington University estimates that 40% of Fortune 500 companies will no longer exist in 10 years. That represents an enormous threat to existing corporations, but it’s an even bigger opportunity to those companies who are poised to take their place. When faced with disruptive innovation, most executives default to a defensive posture. That’s the wrong approach. Stay on offense and learn to thrive amidst anarchy!

Book Introduction

Change is coming.

Decentralization has already planted its roots.

Anarchy is within sight. In fact, elements of anarchy are already here.

A few will flourish while the majority struggle. This book will help you to be among the winners, not the losers.

There’s a revolution taking place right now, and most people aren’t even aware of it. Of those that are, very few comprehend the degree of disruption on the horizon. Technology is redefining every corner of our world, and it’s evolving along an exponential curve. The impacts will shake humanity to its core. Tomorrow’s leaders need to understand the trends and causal relationships to succeed, they need to understand the dynamics of disruptive innovation, and they need to understand the implications of an increasingly decentralized world.

This book provides models and frameworks for understanding the future. It provides strategic questions to navigate both threats and opportunities. It provides tools to anticipate disruptive innovation, regardless which industry is in question. This book helps leaders predict and dominate tomorrow’s economy.

To be clear, the impacts of technology are both positive and negative. Countless things will improve. Indeed, we are optimizing our planet. Company by company, region by region, country by country, we are optimizing absolutely everything. Operations are becoming more efficient. Products and services are becoming more intuitive and integrated. The world is becoming more intelligent.

But there are also negative impacts on the way. Dramatic increases in productivity will diminish the value of human capital. Algorithms and robotics will displace literally hundreds of millions of jobs. Meanwhile, technology is enabling a shift from centralized power structures to decentralized power structures. The combination is fueling an increasingly individualistic, tribal and self-reliant world. It’s leading to anarchy on a global scale.

The implications are vast, and we have a lot to cover. Let’s get started.

Book Outline

What is anarchy? Is it a world where hoodie-wearing hackers control the Internet? Does it involve chaos and violent street protests? Will it be ruled by criminal gangs and armed liberty-seeking militias? No, not necessarily. Anarchy refers to a society that rejects power; nothing more, nothing less. It’s a political philosophy that advocates self-governance, liberty and fierce independence.

There are a number of trends that are pushing our society towards anarchy. This book describes those trends and highlights emerging business opportunities for CEOs, founders, executives and investors. It covers six broad trends, all converging and overlapping with each other. Anarchy is one of those trends.

Section one looks at the collapsing cost structure of data; the lynch pin of the entire technology revolution. With costs plummeting and capabilities skyrocketing, businesses are reshaping one industry after another.

Section two dives into artificial intelligence; the ultimate use case for data. Technology is climbing a ladder of complexity. Artificial intelligence implies complexity requiring human-level comprehension, and it’s evolving along an exponential curve.

Section three addresses the imminent job losses we can expect at the hands of algorithms, robotics and artificial intelligence. Massive job displacement by automation will bring anger to our citizens and chaos to our political system, sowing the seeds of anarchy.

Section four introduces blockchain and the exploding world of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain protocol enables peer-to-peer transactions between non-trusting parties with no central governing authority. It enables decentralization, and decentralization resembles anarchy.

Section five pulls these trends together. Massive job losses and technology-enabled decentralization are ushering in a wholesale cultural shift that values liberty, self-reliance and individualism above all else. Anarchy is coming. Will you be ready?

Section six describes the relationship between demographics, economic growth and entrepreneurialism. Demographic data is a major contributor to long-term economic forecasting. It may not be related to technology, but its impact on economic activity is impossible to ignore.

Today’s leaders are woefully unprepared for tomorrow’s opportunities and challenges. Disruptive innovation regularly catches intelligent and accomplished executives off guard, and anarchy is a form of disruption. It explains many of the cultural changes we’re already living with today, but we’re just getting started. There’s a tsunami of change on the way.

The tsunami of change spells trouble for many, but that’s not the focus of this book. Instead, it highlights the exciting technologies and unprecedented business opportunities waiting to be exploited. These are transformative times, and you’re in the right place at the right time. Grab your surfboard. We’re gonna ride this one in!

Praise for “Anarchy, Inc.”

Imagine a future in which there are only providers and customers. No management. No administrators. Imagine a future in which the tools you use get smarter every time you make an error – and pass that knowledge along to the same tools other people around the world are using. Imagine a future where data is so vast and so cheap that the rate of innovation we see today will seem glacial by comparison.

This is the future we are stepping into. It’s a future in which the haves and have nots will grow further apart but the potential for society as a whole to thrive reaches unprecedented heights. It is a future in which some of the most basic systems and ideas driving business today will be replaced with radically different approaches. It is a future rooted in Anarchy – not the dark, simplistic and dystopic anarchy of bad sci-fi novels, but the inevitable and empowering anarchy of a cultural shift away from centralized services and toward exponential individual opportunity.

John Armato, Senior Partner & Creative Strategist, Fleishman Hillard

Profiting in the new economy will take vision, boldness and knowledge which is why “Anarchy Inc.” is a must-read for the leaders of today… and tomorrow!

Jerry Ross, President, National Entrepreneur Center

Do you embrace disruption or ignore it? Patrick Schwerdtferger’s book “Anarchy, Inc.” gives insights on how to embrace not only blockchain and AI, but the global implications that will impact all of us. If you want to find a way to embrace the disruption while being self-reliant, this is the book for you.

John Livesay, CMO, Quantm.one, Author of “The Successful Pitch”

Schwerdtfeger’s “Anarchy, Inc.” is as close as it gets to predicting the future and is a must read! If you don’t believe society is in the middle of a revolution, this book will convince you otherwise. The content is sure to engage busy executives around the water cooler and stimulate new ways to approach strategy in an increasingly decentralized and disruptive world. If you want to be a business leader and be ahead of the competition, read this book!

John G. Wensveen, Ph.D., Vice Provost, Miami Dade College

Patrick presents the argument that we can thrive amidst anarchy; that we need to think about our industry now and stay on the offensive. We must run towards innovation planning carefully when to embrace the new technologies. This is a ‘must read’ for every professional looking to sustain and grow his business and advise his clients through the coming revolution.

Jon Lisby, Chief Executive Officer, Kreston International Ltd.