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A review by microglyphics
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Andrew McAfee, Erik Brynjolfsson
4.0
I thought that this was going to be a book on technology. I was pleasantly surprise to find out that the meat of the book was about economics. I understand that author's need a point of view, and I can forgive their Pollyanna tendencies, but all in all I feel like I gain additional perspective having read this book.
As I commenced reading this, I was worried about the commentary on progress, as it typically favours some underlying teleological vantage where more is superior to less—population, consumption, choice, and so on. I was mostly able to overcome this philosophy and focus on the content. I say "mostly," because it feels to me (and I could be way off base) that the authors are "Blue Dogs," Calvinists, to be more precise.
In the penultimate chapter, they promote Voltaire's “Work saves a man from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” quote, seemingly without understanding the social bias that creates this. It is only a paucity of imagination that keeps people bound with such notions. Such small vision for authors who imagine so much more, but this imagination is in a different realm.
As I commenced reading this, I was worried about the commentary on progress, as it typically favours some underlying teleological vantage where more is superior to less—population, consumption, choice, and so on. I was mostly able to overcome this philosophy and focus on the content. I say "mostly," because it feels to me (and I could be way off base) that the authors are "Blue Dogs," Calvinists, to be more precise.
In the penultimate chapter, they promote Voltaire's “Work saves a man from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” quote, seemingly without understanding the social bias that creates this. It is only a paucity of imagination that keeps people bound with such notions. Such small vision for authors who imagine so much more, but this imagination is in a different realm.