Out of control
by Kevin Kelly · first published 1994
69% recommend31% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A wide-ranging look at complex systems, biology and technology. Its 1994 predictions about business and technology have held up well. Suited to anyone curious about emergence and evolution.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Thanks for the film recommendation. In a similar vein, I'd recommend Kevin Kelly's book, Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World, which deals a lot with complexity of large systems and their parallels to biology and evolution. I do think it's possible to create…
on “We Who Value Simplicity Have Built Incomprehensible Machines” ↗Kevin Kelly wrote about "co-evolution" in his book [0] Out of Control. Great book, by the way. I don't think he coined the term, but co-evolution regards how relationships between different kinds of species can effect the adaptations that each species undergo. So in your…
on “First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature” ↗Another book I heard about from the Matrix behind the scenes was Out of Control by Kevin Kelly. It was pretty interesting to read especially in the context of machine learning now days. Its hard to believe that it was written in 1994. I was only in high school at the time but I could…
on “Simulacra and Simulation” ↗Out of Control by former Wired editor Kevin Kelly. This book was a labor of love and it shows--every chapter explores some fascinating new topic on the intersection of biology and technology. Even though the book was…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗Makes me think of Kevin Kelly (http://kk.org). His 1994 book Out of Control, read retrospectively, has held up better than any other prognostication I can think of concerning the nexus of business and technology. Neal Stephenson's 1999 Cryptonomicon is another staggering example.…
on “The Rise of the Thought Leader” ↗For me perhaps its "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly : http://kk.org/outofcontrol/
on “Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?” ↗I really don't get Kurzweil's claim to fame. I have never found any of his writing worthwhile. Kevin Kelly on the other hand writes some good stuff (Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World).
on “It may not feel like anything to be an alien” ↗…two works in the same mould (it's kinda a series) as GEB: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind%27s_I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop Also - you might enjoy Kevin Kelly's book, "Out of Control": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Control_(Kevin_Kelly_bo... Oh - and in a similar vein, Marvin Minsky's book "Society of Mind": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Mind The problem with…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…convertible. And they are still together. I've been following Farmer's progress since the '70s, but I hadn't heard that one. Great stuff, thanks very much!! Got me to break out my old copy of Kevin Kelly's Out of Control.
on “Slowed canonical progress in large fields of science” ↗"The quickest route to describing a seed's output is to sprout it." - Kevin Kelly, 'Out of Control'
on “Ask YC: what is your favorite startup related quote?” ↗Kevin Kelly has added photographs to his 1994 book "Out of Control" and made it available as a free PDF download. He's experimenting with contextual ads, displayed alongside the document. They are opt-in, which is cool.
on “Out of Control, The Illustrated Edition” ↗"how some evolutions preclude whole swaths of that space" If I remember correctly, Kevin Kelly's "Out of Control" introduced me to this idea, of a kind of but not quite meta-evolution: https://kk.org/mt-files/outofcontrol/ch14-a.html
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗I feel the same way. The last time I read Kevin Kelly's Out of Control, I had a similar experience — constantly searching for materials, adding supporting arguments, and feeling as if I had retained nothing after just one read.
on “Ask HN: Thought-Provoking Books” ↗