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Kevin Kelly

Senior Maverick (co-founder; executive editor for its first seven years), WIRED

  • Senior Maverick (co-founder; executive editor for its first seven years), Wired1
  • Founder, Cool Tools13
  • Co-chair, The Long Now Foundation1

Kevin Kelly co-founded Wired in 1993, served as its executive editor for its first seven years, and is now its Senior Maverick. Kevin writes books about technology and the future, including Out of Control, What Technology Wants and The Inevitable, and founded Cool Tools, a website that publishes reader-written reviews of tools, gadgets, software and books. Kevin is also co-chair of The Long Now Foundation and earlier was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review. Current writing appears on a weekly Substack and the Technium blog.123

At a glance

Current roles
Senior Maverick (co-founder; executive editor for its first seven years) +2 more
Sector
Company
Work listed
2
Sources cited
3
Profile reviewed

Career

From 1984 to 1990 Kevin Kelly edited the Whole Earth Review, served as acting publisher of the Whole Earth Catalogs, and directed the Point Foundation. In that period Kelly co-initiated the Hackers' Conference in 1985, served on the board of the early online service the WELL from its start until 1998, edited Signal, a 1988 catalog of communication tools, and organized Cyberthon, a public gathering of early virtual reality systems.1

Kelly was the founding executive editor of Wired from 1992 to 1999; the magazine's first issue appeared in January 1993, and it won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 1994 and 1997. Kelly is now Wired's Senior Maverick, and is a founding board member and co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, where Kelly also started Long Bets with Stewart Brand in 2001.1

Books and writing

Kelly's books on technology include Out of Control (1994), about machines, economies and other human-made systems becoming more biological; New Rules for the New Economy (1998); What Technology Wants (2010), which offers a theory of technology; and The Inevitable (2016), on technological trends over the coming decades. Excellent Advice for Living, a collection of 450 short proverbs, followed in 2023.1

Kelly launched The Technium, a blog about the nature of technology, in 2005, and in 2009 started the Quantified Self with Gary Wolf. Kelly also writes a weekly Substack newsletter.12

Cool Tools

Kelly started Cool Tools as an email list and, from 2003, as a website that reviews tools daily, and in 2013 published a selection from the site as the book Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. Kelly also co-writes the Recomendo newsletter, started in 2017 with Mark Frauenfelder and Claudia Dawson, and in 2020 began a Cool Tools YouTube channel.13

Work and contributions

  • Cool Tools Show, channel or publication

    Founded the site in 2003 to review one tool daily, covering books, gadgets, software, hardware and websites.13

  • What Technology Wants Show, channel or publication

    Book presenting a theory of technology, one of several Kevin has written on the future of technology, alongside The Inevitable and Out of Control.1

Timeline

  1. Began editing the Whole Earth Review, a role held until 1990.1
  2. Co-initiated the Hackers' Conference and joined the founding board of the WELL.1
  3. Wired, with Kelly as founding executive editor, published its first issue.1
  4. Published Out of Control, and Wired won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.1
  5. Became a charter board member of The Long Now Foundation.1
  6. Launched the Cool Tools website, which grew out of an email list.13
  7. Launched The Technium, a blog about the nature of technology.1
  8. Published What Technology Wants.1
  9. Published The Inevitable, on technology trends over the next 30 years.1
  10. Published Excellent Advice for Living with Penguin Random House.1

Other documented roles

Roles the sources document that are not confirmed as current.

  • Publisher and editor (1984-1990), Whole Earth Review1

Where they work

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References

3 sources · profile reviewed Oct 21, 2026 · data updated Oct 21, 2026

  1. Biography – Kevin KellyKevin Kelly · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  2. Kevin Kelly — homeKevin Kelly · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  3. Cool ToolsCool Tools · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026