Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is an American writer, editor, and photographer, a co-founder of the technology magazine Wired, and the author of books including Out of Control, What Technology Wants, and The Inevitable. He currently serves as Wired’s Senior Maverick and co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, and he founded the tool review website Cool Tools.

Contents11 sections

Key facts

1952Born

Kevin Kelly was born in Pennsylvania PennsylvaniaPennsylvania (officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States; its capital is Harrisburg, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are its two great metropolitan areas. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 13,002,700.Open the full entry in 1952. He dropped out of college and, in the 1970s, traveled throughout Asia as a photojournalist, photographing and documenting local traditional cultures over many years.⁠[1]

1984–1990Whole Earth Review

From 1984 to 1990, Kelly was editor of Whole Earth Review, a publication that covered virtual reality, ecological restoration, and online culture early on. During this period, he helped launch the online community the WELL in 1985 and co-founded the Hackers’ Conference.⁠[1]

1993Co-Founded Wired

In 1993, Kelly co-founded the technology magazine Wired and went on to serve as its Executive Editor for seven years.⁠[1]

1994Out of Control

In 1994, he published Out of Control. He later also wrote books including New Rules for the New Economy.⁠[1][2]

2000Founded Cool Tools

In 2000, Kelly founded the tool recommendation website Cool Tools, which publishes one review a day of products, books, or software written by real users; he still leads the site’s editorial direction.⁠[3]

2010What Technology Wants

In 2010, Viking published his book What Technology Wants. The book treats technology as a natural system extending from biological evolution and seeks to infer the direction of technology from the patterns of life.⁠[4]

2016The Inevitable

In 2016, he published The Inevitable, which went on to become a bestseller.⁠[1][5]

2021Vanishing Asia

In 2021, he published Vanishing Asia, a three-volume photography collection of 1,080 pages and 9,000 photographs documenting the traditional cultures he photographed in 35 Asian countries over five decades.⁠[6]

2023Excellent Advice for Living

In 2023, he published Excellent Advice for Living, a collection of 450 modern proverbs about life. He also runs the recommendation newsletter Recomendo.⁠[1][5]