Will the Future Like You?

Karnac Books

"A thought-provoking consideration of the ways in which digital landscapes disrupt us at a fundamental level. [A] fresh work that incisively captures the zeitgeist."

Kirkus Reviews

What if the harms of living an increasingly digital life go beyond undercutting our attention spans or blunting our social skills? What if it cuts deeper, to the core of who we are and who we know ourselves to be?

Patricia Martin, cultural analyst and host of the Jung in the World podcast, explores the challenges that tech and the internet impose on the human psyche and offers a revelatory adventure through the processes that make us who we are. In WILL THE FUTURE LIKE YOU: Reflections on the Age of Hyper-reinvention (March 5, 2026; Karnac Books UK), she argues that 24/7 online connectivity reshapes not only our sense of self, but erodes our very ability to form our identities. Blending memoir, psychology, cultural criticism, and investigative reportage, this wide-ranging and fascinating narrative underscores the urgency of regaining a cohesive sense of self in this era of churn and challenges.

Explore the ideas behind the book – Author Q&A about Will the Future Like You?

Advance Praise

‘Courageous, urgent, and deeply necessary, this work offers what so many of us desperately need: not just an understanding of our disorientation, but a map home to ourselves. Patricia Martin masterfully captures the defining crisis of our time: the relentless assault of stimuli that collapses boundaries, distorts reality, and erodes the very beliefs that once anchored our lives. But this isn’t just diagnosis – it’s deliverance. Where others see only chaos, Martin illuminates a way through: a luminous thread leading out of the labyrinth of numbness and existential drift. It’s radical reclamation. It’s how we recover our agency, restore our sovereignty, and rediscover our truth in an age designed to make us forget.’

James Hollis

Jungian analyst, author of Swamplands of the Soul and Living With Borrowed Dust, and 20 other books.

‘This is a highly engaging read for anyone wondering how current technology is affecting – and distorting – the human psyche.’

Robert Tyminski

Jungian psychoanalyst and author of Male Alienation at the Crossroads of Identity, Culture and Cyberspace

‘Both intensely personal and universal, Will the Future Like You? takes us a major step forward in describing what is happening to our sense of self and the search for meaning in our lives.’

John Zogby

pollster and author of We Are Many, We Are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America

‘Patricia Martin exposes the key dynamics at work in this hothousing of identity and provides wise counsel for finding more authentic and sustainable forms of individual transformation.’

Glen Slater

author of Jung vs Borg: Finding the Deeply Human in a Posthuman Age

RenGen: The Rise of the Renaissance Generation

This book predicted a rising generation of content creators would change the world. Adams Media/Simon & Schuster. Available on Amazon or find the ebook here.

“I feel hopeful again about America. Bubbling underneath all of this resistance, is a collective creativity that is about to erupt into a new renaissance and within my own lifetime. Martin not only identifies the conditions that have come together to produce an age of enlightenment, but through careful research explores them, even meeting with the business leaders, artists, scientists, civic planners, and others, who are helping us to evolve in a positive way.” —Amazon review

ChangeThis: The RenGen Manifesto

Chosen as part of Seth Godin’s e-chapbook imprint, ChangeThis. It’s a call-to-create a new story of the future for intelligent optimists.

Available here.

Tipping the Culture

A handy e-book for performing arts groups about how to engage Millennials using social media. Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in collaboration with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago.

Available for free here.

Made Possible By

A step-by-step guidebook for creatives to help them win sponsorships. Jossey-Bass. Available on Amazon.

More from Patricia Martin

NEW BOOK COMING SOON!

Will the Future Like You?

The Power, Pitfalls, and Possibilities of a New Age of Identity

Working with computer scientists in 2019, I harnessed AI (artificial intelligence) to scrape the web and analyze sentiments around identity, self-doubt, and desires of the future self. I also interviewed experts from psychology, anthropology, entertainment, and neuroscience. Criss-crossing the country, I gathered stories of identity lost and found: people who faced their crossroads, built and crashed their dreams, and made peace with self-doubt in an era of hyper-reinvention. Their lessons were fierce and soul stirring. My findings led to a book that’s currently in development.