Expert Endorsements: The Disruption of Thought
By Pat Scannell
“This is one of the most important books of the decade”
Bob Gourley, OODA CTO, former DIA CTO
Industry Leaders
“It could very well be the Silent Spring of our generation, and it gives me hope and insight (and scares the hell out of me) as I look forward to what the next several years may bring us.”
Read Full Endorsement
I’ve spent the better part of three decades of my career studying human cognition, information campaigns, and how humans think. Along the way, much of my time has been spent bringing emerging technology to market in the national defense and commercial sectors. And, of course, I’m an actual person dealing with this technological niche we live in, supporting my family, and doing my best to raise my children in these amazing and confusing times.
All that said, I’ve found The Disruption of Thought to be the most important book I’ve read this decade. Pat Scannell’s *The Disruption of Thought* is a wake-up call for humanity at a critical juncture in our history. Drawing on humanity’s ability to adapt and innovate, Scannell artfully examines the urgency of this moment—a time where the luxury of centuries to evolve has been reduced to mere decades. This book provides a roadmap to acknowledge, understand, and navigate the rapidly changing landscape of technology, society, and human thought. It’s not just a compelling read—it’s a call to action for those of us determined to step up, think bigger, and chart a course toward a future where humanity thrives amidst inevitable disruptions.
Zach Levy
Technology & National Security Senior Executive
“We ruminate in motionless altered realities, with narratives set by others or no one, until the very structure of our mind has a widened pathway for despair, and our bodies have atrophied. But hey, what could go right?”
Read Full Context
Scannell’s Disruption of Thought: Technology can change experience, understanding, and physiology. We offset processed food cravings with a gut instinct drug that creates a pit in the stomach. So, we ruminate in motionless altered realities, with narratives set by others or no one, until the very structure of our mind has a widened pathway for despair, and our bodies have atrophied. But hey, what could go right?
Tony Aghazarian
Former Head of New Product, Apple
A ‘father’ of iPod, iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro
“As mind-bending as it is illuminating, this book will push you to think differently about nearly everything in your life.”
Read Full Endorsement
Pat does an incredible job distilling the ultimate complexity of the human condition into a consumable and understandable artifact. Then he begins to challenge and stretch the notion of disruption and cognition, blending the human and the machine and their (increasingly) intertwined impact on the human condition. As mind-bending as it is illuminating, this book will push you to think differently about nearly everything in your life.
Tyler Sweatt
Chief Executive Officer, secondfront.com
Technology Pioneers
“It ironically made me think harder about my own daily use of and reliance on programmable technology… It made me think!”
Read Full Foreword
Rather, it ironically made me think harder about my own daily use of and reliance on programmable technology. Some of this is so well-rehearsed that I don’t even think about it until I am reminded to do so, as I have been, in reading this book. So, why would I recommend this book to other readers? It made me think!
Vint Cerf
VP, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
A “father” of the Internet
From the Foreword
Academic & Research Perspectives
“This book is the Lewis and Clark journals of that new frontier, and we may find in the not-too-distant future that this work will be just as important as that of the Corps of Discovery.”
Read Full Research Review
Pat Scannell’s new book, “The Disruption of Thought,” offers an informative and entertaining guided tour of a highly dimensional landscape of the concepts and processes of “thought” itself, particularly thought as it occurs in our technology-rich modern lives. Scannell embraces this journey and presents pathways and landmarks that will help guide readers who come to the subject from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.
Much as the beauty of a gemstone is enhanced by its many facets, so too is the inherent beauty of thought enhanced and made cognizable by Scannell’s multi-faceted treatment. In the book, the myriad perspectives on the vast landscape of thought are traversed by drawing together themes and conceptions from across history and different disciplines and sectors.
Given the breadth and comprehensiveness of the exploration, the journey might be better described as an expedition, and one in which the new perspectives and discoveries of new gems of insight are well worth the trip. The scale of the undertaking is well matched with Scannell’s comprehensive research, extensive background experience, and natural curiosity.
Like a map at a public park with a large arrow saying “you are here,” these myriad analytical landmarks help any interested reader to orient themselves within the vast and multi-faceted landscape encompassed by “thought” itself, and to derive the courage to explore related, but previously unexperienced, parts of the landscape.
We have, as a species, used technology to create a new frontier for ourselves. This book is the Lewis and Clark journals of that new frontier, and we may find in the not-too-distant future that this work will be just as important as that of the Corps of Discovery. There is something for everyone in this book, and readers who complete the journey will be changed forever, enjoying a much deeper and richer understanding of the processes of thought, and a much more satisfactory and fruitful experience in “thinking” and reconceiving their use of technology in both their personal and professional lives.
Scott David
Director, Information Risk and Synthetic Intelligence Research Initiative (IRSIRI)
University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory
“Scannell’s thought-provoking analysis makes a compelling case that how we think is changing right now—and we’re not prepared for it.”
Read Full Neuroscience Perspective
A fascinating synthesis of theories for how we think, probing their limitations, and arguing for a radically extended version of cognition. Scannell’s thought-provoking analysis makes a compelling case that how we think is changing right now—and we’re not prepared for it.
Mark Humphries
Chair in Computational Neuroscience
University of Nottingham
Future Thinkers
“Scannell has done what most do not: he has stepped back far enough to see the whole system we’re swimming in.”
Read Full Futurist Analysis
Scannell has done what most do not: he has stepped back far enough to see the whole system we’re swimming in. The Disruption of Thought serves as both a wake-up call and a practical toolkit for future builders, creatives, and culture-shapers. This book doesn’t just map the future—it provides essential guidance for understanding the present and preparing for what’s next. If you are a futurist, designer, educator, or creative thinker, this book will stretch your mind in all the best ways.
Cyndi Coon
Applied Futurist, Founder Applied Futures Lab
Co-Founder Threatcasting Lab
“Scannell offers a sharp look at how digital technology mutates thought, giving us hope to move beyond today’s ecosystems and re-anchor meaning in authentic human communities.”
Michael Robbins, FRSA
Social Entrepreneur and Community Builder
Institutional Recognition
“Only every few decades does a first-time author arrive with a work of such depth and originality that it demands and deserves the world’s attention like this book does.”
Read Full Institutional Assessment
Warnings about technology’s disruption of human life have emerged from scattered corners—wisdom traditions, anthropology, historians—but they’ve lacked a unifying frame. The Disruption of Thought provides that frame with rare intellectual courage and practical urgency.
The scope and ambition match Harari or Pinker, but the immediacy rivals Zuboff: this is a book about something critical that’s happening to us right now, in real time, as our capacity for coherent thought erodes.
Pat Scannell has comprehensively researched and then integrated one of the largest and most complex problems facing humanity—one that the comfortable consensus refuses to acknowledge—and then he goes further and charts a path forward for the builders who must organize now or lose the future entirely.
Only every few decades does a first-time author arrive with a work of such depth and originality that it demands and deserves the world’s attention like this book does.
Human Sustainability Institute
Ready to explore the disruption?
“`