In Alec Ross’s new book, The Industries of the Future , he takes a deep dive into the specific fields he believes will shape our economic future, including robotics and the codification of just about everything. The book is based in part on his four years serving as senior advisor for Innovation to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as on his travels, which took him the equivalent of “25 circumferences of the globe.” Recently Knowledge at Wharton interviewed Ross about his book while he was on campus as an Authors@Wharton guest. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Knowledge at Wharton: When you were coming up with the industries to highlight in the book, was it immediately obvious what would make sense to put in there? What was your process of deciding which ones to include or how to categorize what you were seeing into clear industry sectors? Alec Ross: It was a long process, actually.…