Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is the founding executive editor of ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the ''

Whole Earth Review ''Whole Earth Review'' (''Whole Earth'' after 1997) was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the '' Whole Earth Software Review'' (a supplement to the '' Whole Earth Software Catalog'') and the ''CoEvolution Quarterl ...

''. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and

digital culture Internet culture is a culture based on the many way people have used computer networks and their use for communication, entertainment, business, and recreation. Some features of Internet culture include online communities, gaming, and social medi ...

Life

Kelly was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1952, and graduated from Westfield High School,

Westfield, New Jersey Westfield is a Town (New Jersey), town in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, New Jersey, United States, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 30,316,Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' who used

systems analysis Systems analysis is "the process of studying a procedure or business to identify its goal and purposes and create systems and procedures that will efficiently achieve them". Another view sees system analysis as a problem-solving technique that ...

in his work, Kelly developed an early interest in

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...

. He attended the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

for one year, studying geology. Kelly has traveled extensively, backpacking in Asia. While travelling in the Middle East, he had a conversion experience and became a

born-again Christian Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...

. He was raised Catholic. He lives in

Pacifica, California Pacifica ( es, Pacífica, meaning "Peaceful") is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. Overview The City of Pacifica is spread along a stretch of coastal beaches and h ...

, a small coastal town just south of San Francisco. He is married to the biochemist Gia-Miin Fuh and has three children: Kaileen, Ting, and Tywen. He regrets not having a fourth child. Among Kelly's personal involvements is a campaign to make a full inventory of all living species on earth, an effort also known as the Linnaean enterprise. He is also sequencing his genome and co-organizes the Bay Area

Quantified Self The quantified self refers both to the cultural phenomenon of self-tracking with technology and to a community of users and makers of self-tracking tools who share an interest in "self-knowledge through numbers". Quantified self practices overlap ...

Meetup Meetup is a social media platform for hosting and organizing in-person and virtual activities, gatherings, and events for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions. It was founded in 2002 by Scott Heiferman and four ot ...

Group.

Career

Kelly began contributing freelance articles to ''

CoEvolution Quarterly ''CoEvolution Quarterly'' (1974–1985) was a journal descended from Stewart Brand's '' Whole Earth Catalog''. Stewart Brand founded the ''CoEvolution Quarterly'' in 1974 using proceeds from the '' Whole Earth Catalog.'' It evolved out of the o ...

'' in 1980, while living in Athens, Georgia. Around this time he was also editing his own start-up magazine called ''Walking Journal'', and working in an epidemiology laboratory to support himself. He was hired in 1983 by Whole Earth founder

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the auth ...

to edit some of the later editions of the ''

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articl ...

'', the ''

'', and ''Signal''. With Brand, Kelly helped found the

WELL A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

, an influential

virtual community A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communi ...

. As director of the Point Foundation, he co-sponsored the first Hackers Conference in 1984. In 1992, Kelly was hired by

Louis Rossetto Louis Rossetto is an Americans, American writer, editor, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and former editor-in-chief / publisher of ''Wired magazine''. He was also the first investor and the former CEO of TCHO chocolate company. ...

to serve as executive editor of ''Wired,'' which was launched in March 1993. He brought to the magazine the cybernetic social vision of the Whole Earth publications and their networked style of editorial work, while also recruiting writers and editors from the WELL. He stepped down as executive editor in 1999; his current job title at ''Wired'' is Senior Maverick. Partially due to his reputation as ''Wired's'' editor, he is noted as a participant in and an observer of

cyberculture Internet culture is a culture based on the many way people have used computer networks and their use for communication, entertainment, business, and recreation. Some features of Internet culture include online communities, gaming, and social medi ...

. Kelly's writing has appeared in many other national and international publications such as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

'', '' Veneer Magazine'', '' GQ'', and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

''. His photographs have appeared in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'' and other American national magazines. As well as serving as editor on many publications, Kelly has written many novels surrounding his interest in cybernetics and all things tech. He is known for coining the term "The Technium," the accumulation of all technologies and inventions as a working, living system. Much of his work revolves around technology as a "living organism." He even refers to "The Technium" as the seventh kingdom of nature, that is self-organizing and autonomous. Kelly's book-length publication, '' Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World'' (1992), presents a view on the mechanisms of complex organization. The central theme of the book is that several fields of contemporary science and philosophy point in the same direction: intelligence is not organized in a centralized structure but much more like a bee-hive of small simple components. Kelly applies this view to bureaucratic organisations, intelligent computers, and to the human brain. He helped found the

All Species Foundation The All Species Foundation (stylized as ALL Species Foundation) was an organization aiming to catalog all species on Earth by 2025 through their All Species Inventory initiative. The project was launched in 2000 by Kevin Kelly, Stewart Brand an ...

. He was a futurist adviser on the

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

-directed movie '' Minority Report''. Kelly has a chapter giving advice in

Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...

' book ''

Tools of Titans ''Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers'' (2016) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. He interviewed more than 100 "wor ...

''.

Select works

Books

* '' Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World'' (Basic Books 1992, Fourth Estate, 1995) * ''New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World'' (Penguin, 1999) * "Photographers section: Kevin Kelly," pp. 106–111, in Lloyd Kahn, editor 2004 ''Home Work'' (Shelter Publications, 2004) * ''True Films'' (2006) * "Forward: 1000 True Fans," pp. 3–8, in ''Be The Media'',

David Mathison David Mathison is an author, blogger, speaker, entrepreneur, new media activist and event producer. He is best known for his book, ''Be The Media'', an encyclopedic guide to how individuals, organizations, and non-profits can use new media platform ...

, editor, (2009) * ''

What Technology Wants ''What Technology Wants'' is a 2010 nonfiction book by Kevin Kelly focused on technology as an extension of life. Summary The opening chapter of ''What Technology Wants'', entitled "My Question", chronicles an early period in the author's lif ...

'' (2010) * ''Cool Tools'' (2013) – Tool reviews collected from his

weblog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

of the same name in large scale format similar to ''Whole Earth Catalog'' * '' The Inevitable'' (2016) * ''Vanishing Asia: Three Volume Set: West, Central and East'' Photographs, text and design by Kevin Kelly (1084 pages) (2021)

Photography and art

* ''Asia Grace'' (2002) * ''Bad Dreams'' (2003) * ''Bicycle Haiku'' (1995)

Lectures

''Speculations on the Future of Science'' by Kevin Kelly
Lecture to

Long Now Foundation The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, is an American non-profit organization based in San Francisco that seeks to start and promote a long-term cultural institution. It aims to provide a counterpoint to what it views as today's "faster ...

, at Fort Mason in San Francisco. March 10, 2006.
Next Fifty Years of Science'' by Kevin Kelly
Google TechTalk, May 9, 2006. (47 minutes)
''How Technology Evolves'' by Kevin Kelly
Talk at the

TED Conference TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sa ...

in Monterey, CA, February 2005. (21 minutes)
''The next 5000 days of the Web'' by Kevin Kelly
Talk at the EG 2007 Conference in Monterey, CA, December 2007.
''Technium Unbound'' by Kevin Kelly
SALT Talk for The Long Now Foundation. November 12, 2014.
''Cool Tools at XOXO'' by Kevin Kelly
Talk at

XOXO Festival XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan with funding from p ...

2014, Portland, OR.

References

Works cited

External links

Kelly's personal site

Kevin Kelly's Blog, The Technium

Kevin Kelly.

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evan ...

. Dec. 2002.
Kelly's Vision of the Future of Cinema

Audio Kevin Kelly has a revelation.

All Species Inventory
* * *
"How technology evolves" (TED2005)
*
"The next 5,000 days of the web"EG conference
2007) *
"Technology's epic story" (TEDxAmsterdam 2009)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Kevin 1952 births Living people American male journalists American non-fiction environmental writers Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area People from Pacifica, California People from Westfield, New Jersey Whole Earth Catalog Wired (magazine) people Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Journalists from California Activists from California Futurologists American futurologists 21st-century American non-fiction writers Westfield High School (New Jersey) alumni 21st-century American male writers