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1 Reading the Tech Tea Leaves WHITHER THE ­FUTURE? Friedrich Nietz­ sche believed that ­ human beings internalize a belief that ­ future events are beyond our control and are fated instead of a series of choices that we make ourselves (Webb 18). Fortunately, most U.S. institutions, companies, and organ­ izations work to defeat this view by requiring yearly goals, perspectives, five-­ year plans, annual bud­gets, and data collection. In the past, many of the traditional tools that school librarians have used to gaze into the ­ future have served us well. Yearly we peruse NMC’s Horizon Report, review “top ten” listings for tech trends, attend American Library Association (ALA) meetings that address ­ future issues, and continue to ably serve our user populations. Change, however, is at hand. We are in an era that some scholars have compared to the Cambrian Age—450 billion years ago—­ when mankind and many other spe- cies achieved an exponential leap in development (Viswanathan). This transfor- mative era is making it challenging to forecast change as newer technologies emerge at such a rapid pace. The washing machine, for example, was considered a “killer app” technology in the early 1900s. Yet it took nearly thirty years for more than 50 ­ percent of Americans to purchase one (Webb 21). Indeed, forecasting has become a form of nowcasting as we try to maintain our equilibrium in a world on a perma- nent spin cycle. Technology is also requiring more of our implicit trust. Our cars contain micro- chips that are absolutely essential to their successful operation, yet can be remotely hacked by any semi-­ talented dark-­ hat techie. Physicians are performing delicate surgeries upon us with the aid of robot-­ controlled scalpels (Webb 282). Obsoles- cence is occurring at a faster rate. Doug Johnson, in his excellent book, The Indis- pensable Librarian, reminds us that flash drives, eBooks, Facebook, and Nooks may soon seem as antiquated as floppy disks and acquisition stamps (Johnson 185). In a 2016 survey of 10,000 teens in forty-­ six states, the majority of them report that they now prefer Snapchat and Instagram to Facebook. Many of our schools, however, are plunging into purchasing vari­ous technolo- gies with scant evidence that they improve learning. Trusting ­ these fast-­appearing