The Next RenAIssance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential
Jack Kass
Wiley (January 2026)
“Potential means you ain’t done it yet.” University of Texas Coach Darrell Royal
As I began to read The Next RenAIssance, I was again reminded of Future Shock (1970) in which Alvin Toffler makes this prediction: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
More recently, in The Innovation Ultimatum (Wiley (2020), Steve Brown observes, “There is a massive and rapidly widening gulf between the capabilities of companies that invest in technology and those that don’t. It is a time of reckoning. Emerging technologies will empower brave innovators to make giant steps forward, while those without vision, courage, and agility will wither and perish. Winners will change the world.” Quite literally, here’s the imperative: “Innovate or die. These technologies can be your best friends or worst enemies. That’s up to you.”
I agree with Jack Kass that what is happening now throughout the world — with or without our approval — is a “rebirth” of almost unlimited opportunities to expand human potential. He wrote The Next RenAIssance in order to help prepare as many people as possible to take full advantage of opportunities by learning, unlearning, and relearning WHAT must be done and HOW best to do it.
For example, his focus is on separate but related and sometimes interdependent objectives such as these:
o Understand the foundations of the “renAIssance”
o More specifically, understand the past, present, and future of AI
o Also the conditions of the “renAIssance”
o And its promise (“potential”)
o Carefully consider the questions and challenges it poses
o And principles for thriving in the Era of AI
He then shifts your attention to specific opportunities in the real world, such as resuscitating healthcare, responding effectively to what is probably the future of work (i.e., who will do what, when, and where), and ‘widening” Wall Street so that it is more inclusive with broader and deeper impact on economic health. Kass concludes with an especially apt “Last, Honest Story.”
I realize that no brief commentary such as mine could possibly do full justice to the incalculable value of the ideas, information, insights, and counsel that Zack Kass provides in abundance. But I hope I have at least indicated why I think so highly of Zack Kass and of his work.
* * *
Here are two suggestions while you are reading The Next RenAIssance: First, highlight key passages. Also, perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand, record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to a remarkably appropriate Introduction, and to the one or two paragraphs that conclude each of the ten chapters.
These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.
For example, his focus is on separate but related and sometimes interdependent objectives such as these:
o Understand the foundations of the “renAIssance”
o More specifically, the past, present, and future of AI
o Conditions of the “renAIssance”
o Its promise (“potential”)
o Questions and challenges it poses
o And principles for thriving in the Era of AI
He then shifts your attention to specific opportunities in the real world, such as resuscitating healthcare, responding effectively to what is probably the future of work (i.e., who will do what, when, and where), and ‘widening” Wall Street so that it is more inclusive with broader and deeper impact on economic health. Kass concludes with an especially apt “Last, Honest Story.”
I realize that no brief commentary such as mine could not possibly do full justice to the incalculable value of the ideas, information, insights, and counsel that Zack Kass provides in abundance. But I hope I have at least indicated why I think so highly of Zack Kass and of his work.
* * *
Here are two suggestions while you are reading The Next RenAIssance: First, highlight key passages. Also, perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand, record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to a remarkably appropriate Introduction, and to the one or two paragraphs that conclude each of the ten chapters.
These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.