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A review by adamhecktman
Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age by Carol Ann Browne, Brad Smith
5.0
Full disclosure: I work in the department at Microsoft of the authors. That may make me like the book slightly more than I would otherwise. And I loved this book. For one thing, the authors enjoy history and the way it does not repeat, rather it rhymes. Putting today's complex issues surrounding into the context of their historical analogs does something more than help the reader understand where we may have seen this before. It also helps break down the complexity while providing guideposts to where it may lead.
In every chapter, the authors have something to say about the responsibility of technology and the companies that make it. They are clear on the role of governments, ecosystems, and users of tech. And tech companies in this day now have roles to play that extend well beyond shareholder value. Framing policy considerations, influencing (and sometimes leading) diplomacy, setting the stage for the development of a future workforce. And providing, as the title suggests, either the machinery for a new generation of responsible industry or the ordinances of reckless ruin.
The authors lay out various principles that are required if everyone will benefit from the explosion of data and AI. Those principles are not independent of other value systems, such as those that form the basis of democracy or responsible business. They build on them, and the authors give many examples where this was the case when approaching new products. Technologies will come and go. But timeless values are...well...timeless.
In every chapter, the authors have something to say about the responsibility of technology and the companies that make it. They are clear on the role of governments, ecosystems, and users of tech. And tech companies in this day now have roles to play that extend well beyond shareholder value. Framing policy considerations, influencing (and sometimes leading) diplomacy, setting the stage for the development of a future workforce. And providing, as the title suggests, either the machinery for a new generation of responsible industry or the ordinances of reckless ruin.
The authors lay out various principles that are required if everyone will benefit from the explosion of data and AI. Those principles are not independent of other value systems, such as those that form the basis of democracy or responsible business. They build on them, and the authors give many examples where this was the case when approaching new products. Technologies will come and go. But timeless values are...well...timeless.