The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
Erik Brynjolfsson
(Author)
Andrew McAfee
(Author)
Description
In recent years, Google's autonomous cars have logged thousands of miles on American highways and IBM's Watson trounced the best human Jeopardy! players. Digital technologies--with hardware, software, and networks at their core--will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many tasks once considered uniquely human. In The Second Machine Age MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee--two thinkers at the forefront of their field--reveal the forces driving the reinvention of our lives and our economy. As the full impact of digital technologies is felt, we will realize immense bounty in the form of dazzling personal technology, advanced infrastructure, and near-boundless access to the cultural items that enrich our lives.
Amid this bounty will also be wrenching change. Professions of all kinds--from lawyers to truck drivers--will be forever upended. Companies will be forced to transform or die. Recent economic indicators reflect this shift: fewer people are working, and wages are falling even as productivity and profits soar.
Drawing on years of research and up-to-the-minute trends, Brynjolfsson and McAfee identify the best strategies for survival and offer a new path to prosperity. These include revamping education so that it prepares people for the next economy instead of the last one, designing new collaborations that pair brute processing power with human ingenuity, and embracing policies that make sense in a radically transformed landscape.
A fundamentally optimistic book, The Second Machine Age alters how we think about issues of technological, societal, and economic progress.
Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company
Publish Date
January 25, 2016
Pages
336
Dimensions
5.5 X 0.8 X 8.2 inches | 0.5 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780393350647
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About the Author
Erik Brynjolfsson, Schussel Family Professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, is the coeditor of Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools, and Research (MIT Press).
Andrew McAfee is the Co-Director of the IDE and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research investigates how information technology changes the way companies perform, organize themselves, and compete. At a higher level, his work also focuses on how computerization affects competition, society, the economy, and the workforce. In addition to having numerous papers published, McAfee also writes a widely read blog, which is at times one of the 10,000 most popular in the world. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 articles, case studies and other materials for students and teachers of technology. Prior to joining MIT Sloan, McAfee was a professor at Harvard Business School. He has also served as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. McAfee received his doctorate from Harvard Business School, and completed two Master of Science and two Bachelor of Science degrees at MIT. He speaks frequently to both academic and industry audiences and has taught in executive education programs around the world.
Reviews
Optimistic and intriguing.--Steven Pearlstein
Fascinating.--Andrew Leonard
Maddeningly reasonable and readable.--Thomas Claburn
Offers important insights into how digital technologies are transforming our economy, a process that has only just begun.--Reid Hoffman, cofounder/chairman of LinkedIn and coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Start-up of You
In this optimistic book Brynjolfsson and McAfee clearly explain the bounty that awaits us from intelligent machines. But they argue that creating the bounty depends on finding ways to race with the machine rather than racing against the machine. That means people like me need to build machines that are easy to master and use. Ultimately, those who embrace the new technologies will be the ones who benefit most.--Rodney Brooks, chairman and CTO of Rethink Robotics, Inc
What globalization was to the economic debates of the late 20th century, technological change is to the early 21st century. Long after the financial crisis and great recession have receded, the issues raised in this important book will be central to our lives and our politics.--Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University
An important book on the technology-driven opportunities and challenges we all face in the next decade. Anyone who wants to understand how amazing new technologies are transforming our economy should start here.--Austan Goolsbee, professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
A masterful job of exploring both the promise of computer technology and its profound societal impact.--Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk
My favorite book so far of 2014. Both hopeful...and realistic.--Joshua Kim
After reading this book, your world view will be flipped: you'll see that collective intelligence will come not only from networked brains but also from massively connected and intelligent machines.--Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder of the MIT Media Lab, founder of One Laptop per Child, and author of Being Digital
Truly helped me see the world of tomorrow through exponential rather than arithmetic lenses. Macro and microscopic frontiers now seem plausible, meaning that learners and teachers alike are in a perpetual mode of catching up with what is possible. It frames a future that is genuinely exciting!--Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator's Dilemma
A whirlwind tour of innovators and innovations around the world. But this isn't just casual sightseeing. Along the way, they describe how these technological wonders came to be, why they are important, and where they are headed.--Hal Varian, chief economist at Google
Brynjolfsson and McAfee do an amazing job of explaining the progression of technology, giving us a glimpse of the future, and explaining the economics of these advances. And they provide sound policy prescriptions. Their book could also have been titled Exponential Economics 101--it is a must-read.--Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and author of The Immigrant Exodus
Excellent.--Clive Crook
This provocative book is both grounded and visionary, with highly approachable economic analyses that add depth to their vision. A must-read.--John Seely Brown, coauthor of The Power of Pull and A New Culture of Learning
Fascinating.--Andrew Leonard
Maddeningly reasonable and readable.--Thomas Claburn
Offers important insights into how digital technologies are transforming our economy, a process that has only just begun.--Reid Hoffman, cofounder/chairman of LinkedIn and coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Start-up of You
In this optimistic book Brynjolfsson and McAfee clearly explain the bounty that awaits us from intelligent machines. But they argue that creating the bounty depends on finding ways to race with the machine rather than racing against the machine. That means people like me need to build machines that are easy to master and use. Ultimately, those who embrace the new technologies will be the ones who benefit most.--Rodney Brooks, chairman and CTO of Rethink Robotics, Inc
What globalization was to the economic debates of the late 20th century, technological change is to the early 21st century. Long after the financial crisis and great recession have receded, the issues raised in this important book will be central to our lives and our politics.--Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University
An important book on the technology-driven opportunities and challenges we all face in the next decade. Anyone who wants to understand how amazing new technologies are transforming our economy should start here.--Austan Goolsbee, professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
A masterful job of exploring both the promise of computer technology and its profound societal impact.--Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk
My favorite book so far of 2014. Both hopeful...and realistic.--Joshua Kim
After reading this book, your world view will be flipped: you'll see that collective intelligence will come not only from networked brains but also from massively connected and intelligent machines.--Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder of the MIT Media Lab, founder of One Laptop per Child, and author of Being Digital
Truly helped me see the world of tomorrow through exponential rather than arithmetic lenses. Macro and microscopic frontiers now seem plausible, meaning that learners and teachers alike are in a perpetual mode of catching up with what is possible. It frames a future that is genuinely exciting!--Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator's Dilemma
A whirlwind tour of innovators and innovations around the world. But this isn't just casual sightseeing. Along the way, they describe how these technological wonders came to be, why they are important, and where they are headed.--Hal Varian, chief economist at Google
Brynjolfsson and McAfee do an amazing job of explaining the progression of technology, giving us a glimpse of the future, and explaining the economics of these advances. And they provide sound policy prescriptions. Their book could also have been titled Exponential Economics 101--it is a must-read.--Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and author of The Immigrant Exodus
Excellent.--Clive Crook
This provocative book is both grounded and visionary, with highly approachable economic analyses that add depth to their vision. A must-read.--John Seely Brown, coauthor of The Power of Pull and A New Culture of Learning
