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A review by arkron
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Andrew McAfee, Erik Brynjolfsson
3.0
Having watched Andrew McAfee's presentation at a manager's conference, I wanted to read more of his assumptions: Digitalization capabilities raise exponentially and while we didn't notice much of that explosion previously, right now we are the start of the "second half of the chessboard" where everything can happen and we have to act quickly to not be overrun by the development. One of his main examples wascomputer Watson winning Jeopardy.
It is only now that digitalization and automation will turn the society similarly to the first Industrial revolution, and these topics fit very well to Siemens's positioning (only leaving out electrification).
I was especially interested to read more about a statement in his discussion where he emphasized platforms as a key factor to further development. Alas, the book didn't bring much further to that element.
The book is a nice, easily readable introductory work. It doesn't get too technical or too economical but reflects and extends his talk.
The only thing that I don't understand is his reluctance concerning singularity (when artificial intelligences will be smarter than humans). He stated that it is so far away that it is similar to "caring about overpopulation on Mars". At the same time, he warns that we cannot understand the technical explosion on the second half of the chessboard anymore. That doesn't fit together in my opinion.
The book is introductory in the way that it only presents the situation but doesn't provide good approaches besides trivial ones (as: let your children get a higher education). Also, it doesn't consider anything outside U.S. context, which I miss as an European reader.
I fully recommend the book with a warning to raise expectations too high.
It is only now that digitalization and automation will turn the society similarly to the first Industrial revolution, and these topics fit very well to Siemens's positioning (only leaving out electrification).
I was especially interested to read more about a statement in his discussion where he emphasized platforms as a key factor to further development. Alas, the book didn't bring much further to that element.
The book is a nice, easily readable introductory work. It doesn't get too technical or too economical but reflects and extends his talk.
The only thing that I don't understand is his reluctance concerning singularity (when artificial intelligences will be smarter than humans). He stated that it is so far away that it is similar to "caring about overpopulation on Mars". At the same time, he warns that we cannot understand the technical explosion on the second half of the chessboard anymore. That doesn't fit together in my opinion.
The book is introductory in the way that it only presents the situation but doesn't provide good approaches besides trivial ones (as: let your children get a higher education). Also, it doesn't consider anything outside U.S. context, which I miss as an European reader.
I fully recommend the book with a warning to raise expectations too high.