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The Second Machine Age

Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
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( 12,117 ratings, 825 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee explores the transformative impact of digital technologies, including autonomous vehicles and AI systems like IBM's Watson, on society and the economy. The authors discuss how these innovations will revolutionise industries, enhance productivity, and provide unprecedented access to technology and culture.

However, this progress brings significant challenges: many professions will be disrupted, companies must adapt or fail, and economic shifts such as stagnating wages despite rising profits are already visible. Drawing on extensive research, the authors propose strategies for adapting to this new landscape, such as revamping education to meet future needs, fostering human-machine collaboration, and implementing forward-thinking policies.

Ultimately, the book presents an optimistic yet realistic vision of technological and societal progress in the digital age.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5300

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in technology's impact on the economy and society, including students, educators, professionals, and policymakers seeking insight into the future of work and innovation.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A New York Times Bestseller. A “fascinating” (Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times) look at how digital technology is transforming our work and our lives.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! 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 realise 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.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Guardian describes it as "set to be one of the zeitgeist works of 2014." The Economist calls it "an ambitious, engaging and at times terrifying vision" and one of the most effective explanations of technological inequality. The Financial Times praises it as one of the best summaries of digital change's impact on jobs and prosperity, while The Telegraph and London Review of Books find it a "fascinating book." Nature highlights its thorough analysis, making it essential reading for understanding the digital revolution.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393350647

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 January 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 211.0mm

Weight: 261g

Pages: 336

About the Author

Erik Brynjolfsson is the director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and one of the most cited scholars in information systems and economics. Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Digital Business and the author of Enterprise 2.0.

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