The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee
“The Second Machine Age” is a wonderful book about the impact of technology on our lives. Accomplished authors Brynjolfsson and McAfee, takes the reader on a fascinating journey that intertwines technology, society and the economy. The main premise is we live in a second machine age and it comes with bounty and freedom but also some difficult challenges. This captivating 321-page book includes the fifteen chapters divided into three sections: Section 1 describes the fundamental characteristics of the second machine age, Section 2 explores bounty and spread, and Section 3 discusses what interventions will be appropriate and effective for this age.
Positives:
1. A well-researched and well-referenced book.
2. A fascinating topic in the hands of gifted authors: the impact of technology on the economy and our lives.
3. A very good format. The book is divided into three main sections; each chapter begins with a quote-appropriate quote and is further broken out by subtopics.
4. Engaging and readable style. The authors take what could have been complex topics and make it accessible to the general public. Good use of charts and diagrams to complement narrative.
5. Provides historical references. “The Industrial Revolution ushered in humanity’s first machine age—the first time our progress was driven primarily by technological innovation—and it was the most profound time of transformation our world has ever seen.”
6. An excellent discussion on what would remain predominately human tasks versus tasks that would be automated by artificial intelligence. “In addition to pattern recognition, Levy and Murnane highlight complex communication as a domain that would stay on the human side in the new division of labor.”
7. Fascinating nuggets of knowledge throughout the book. “The word robot entered the English language via the 1921 Czech play, R.U.R. (Rossum’s “Universal” Robots) by Karel Capek, and automatons have been an object of human fascination ever since.”
8. A look at the history of digitization. “Information is costly to produce but cheap to reproduce.”
9. A look at innovations. “Another school of thought, though, holds that the true work of innovation is not coming up with something big and new, but instead recombining things that already exist.”
10. Explains key economic terms and how it’s impacted by technology. “The trends in GDP growth and productivity growth covered in chapter 7 are important, but they are not sufficient measures of our overall well-being, or even our economic well-being.”
11. A look at key intangibles. “Production in the second machine age depends less on physical equipment and structures and more on the four categories of intangible assets: intellectual property, organizational capital, user-generated content, and human capital.”
12. A look at economic inequalities. “The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay increased from seventy in 1990 to three hundred in 2005.” “Recent research makes it clear that the American Dream of upward mobility, which was real in earlier generations, is greatly diminished today.”
13. Explains to satisfaction the winner-take-all results. “Digital goods have enormous economies of scale, giving the market leader a huge cost advantage and room to beat the price of any competitor while still making a good profit.”
14. Asks the right questions. “…three important questions about the future of the bounty and the spread. First, will the bounty overwhelm the spread? Second, can technology not only increase inequality but also create structural unemployment? And thirdly, what about globalization, the other great force transforming the economy—could it explain recent declines in wages and employment?”
15. A look at a technological unemployment. A look at the argument from each side.
16. Practical tools to help you out. “Our recommendations about how people can remain valuable knowledge workers in the new machine age are straightforward: work to improve the skills of ideation, large-frame pattern recognition, and complex communication instead of just the three Rs.”
17. A section on how to improve the educational system.
18. The need to support our scientists. You are preaching to the choir brother…
19. An important chapter on long-term recommendations. “The will of the world is first and foremost to have a good job.”
20. A fascinating look at the present and future. “Our generation will likely have the good fortune to experience two of the most amazing events in history: the creation of true machine intelligence and the connection of all humans via a common digital network, transforming the planet’s economics.”
Negatives:
1. This book repeats to some degree what was contained in the excellent book “Race Against the Machine”. If you have you read that, you may suffer a bit of deja vue.
2. Some issues were not addressed, climate change comes to mind.
3. The book is of more value to the layperson than somebody in the technical fields.
4. No formal bibliography.
In summary, this is an excellent book that masterfully bridges technology and its impact on the economy. The authors make keen observations of the current machine age and what the present and future holds backed by compelling research. A fun, enlightening and thought-provoking book that is a must read. I highly recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Race Against the Machine” by the same authors, “Rise of the Robots” by Martin Ford, “Our Final Invention” by James Barrat, “Tomorrowland” by Steven Kotler, “Singularity Is Near” by Ray Kurzwell, “The Price of Inequality” by Joseph Stiglitz, “Why Nations Fail” by Daron Acemoglu, and “Saving Capitalism” by Robert B. Reich.
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Reviews with images
though it does not shy away from a good discussion about the real threats of AI
"The Second Machine Age" belongs to that extensive library of musings on how technology will impact the future, and the resulting lot of humanity. In general I try to keep my readings on this subject matter balanced between the "we're doomed, end of story" crowd and the Pollyanna fanboys of all things tech. This book tends more towards the latter in its conclusions, though it does not shy away from a good discussion about the real threats of AI, nonexistent privacy, vanishing job market etc. Short Brynjolfsson & McAfee: Everything will be fine as long as we don't do stupid things (Politburos, shutting off the Internet etc.). The policy prescriptions for saving capitalism from itself are not especially novel, but largely sensible. However, any observer of the present state of governance around the world will immediately grasp the sheer unlikelihood of any of them coming to pass. It would appear that, in trying to establish a basis for hope, the authors instead lead us to the game-over conclusion.
Top reviews from other countries
Vijaya Chandru
The most lucid presentation that I have read about the ...
Reviewed in India on February 6, 2017
