Pragmatic yet ambitious, A Categorical Defense of Our Future offers a cutting-edge mental framework based on the union of categorical mathematics and art that can help engineers, business leaders, and other ambitious individuals better understand and manipulate the complex systems prevailing in today’s increasingly connected world. Systems design and engineering are breaking in the face of modern complexity. Our world is now too complex and interconnected to successfully navigate using our current tools and intuition. Using outdated mental frameworks in our decision-making has unintended consequences, and these consequences are increasingly severe. We need to start thinking about systems in a completely different way, and we need to start doing so now. After graduating from MIT and working in systems engineering for years, we became increasingly frustrated by traditional engineering and design approaches. We have seen millions of dollars spent on solutions that aren't working, and in the process, we began to wonder if there was a better way to view and alter modern systems. Our proposed paradigm is based on the idea that we can understand anything, no matter how complex, by understanding its relationships to other things. The concept isn’t based on labels. It’s all about relationships, interactions, and transformations. It’s the math and science of connections, and it is the way of thinking behind art. After considering the directions that art, categorical mathematics, and new analogies take us, we coined the word compcreation (composition and creation) for a proposed method of systems design that, through composition, acknowledges and incorporates the chaotic consequences that arise from what we create. Marked by clarity rather than simplicity, this method incorporates interactions between entities, network effects, compounded effects, and chaos itself. This new paradigm for building systems is the way forward. Perfect for readers who enjoyed Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow and Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 , A Categorical Defense of Our Future is an essential book for those seeking a better way to understand and navigate modern systems. Set yourself up for success in the future, and click “Add to cart!” today! Modern technology is increasingly indistinguishable from magic, and its incantations are written in math. Unfortunately, mathematicians are challenged to explain what they do and why it matters. Baylor and Montero have written a book for the rest of us, explaining why composition is the key to understanding today's world and building tomorrow's. A Categorical Defense of Our Future complements broad-ranging academic theory with a deep, lived experience from corporate industry to argue for a more principled understanding of the systems that govern our lives, from markets and institutions to communities and ecosystems. With clear prose and concrete examples, the authors show us why existing approaches to complexity fail, and point the way towards a new science of systems to help us understand the n th order effects of our interactions in an increasingly complex world. Spencer Breiner, Ph.D., Mathematician at the National Institute of Standards and Technology