Technology
by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
What are computers doing to work?
The steam engine bent the curve of human history upwards by multiplying muscle power. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, both then at MIT, argue that computers are now doing the same for brainpower. Their question is what that means for jobs, for pay, and for who gets ahead.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Computing power has doubled again and again for decades, as Moore's Law predicted. The authors retell the fable of rice on a chessboard, doubling on each square. The first half is manageable. In the second half the numbers get absurd, and they think computing has now reached it.
Once something is digital, another copy costs almost nothing, it's perfect, and it can reach anyone instantly. The authors show how phones, sensors and the web now pour out data, and how cheap copies let a very small team serve millions of people.
The authors argue that most new ideas are old ones recombined. Waze joined the GPS in phones with a social network and traffic reports from drivers. Every digital invention becomes a building block for the next, so the number of possible combinations keeps growing.
The authors' two big consequences. Bounty is the flood of cheaper, better goods and free services. Spread is the widening gap between people, as gains flow to the skilled, to owners of capital and to a few superstars. They warn that no economic law makes everyone share in progress.
Two ages
Steam engines boosted our muscle power. Computers are now doing the same for our brain power.
Doubling
Doubling looks slow at first, then huge. We've reached the second half of the chessboard.
Digital copies
Once something is digital, making another copy costs almost nothing.
Recombining
Most new ideas come from combining old ones in new ways.
Bounty and spread
Technology makes the pie bigger, but it doesn't share it out fairly on its own.
A story from the book
In 2004, the economists Frank Levy and Richard Murnane gave driving in traffic as an example of work computers would struggle with. That year, no car finished DARPA's driverless race across the desert. By 2010, Google's self-driving cars were out on California roads. The authors later rode in one.
One thing to try
The authors' advice is to race with machines and get good at what they do badly: coming up with new ideas, spotting the big pattern, and complex communication. This week, hand one routine task to software and spend the hour it saves on one of those.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. The Second Machine Age comes with a Name That Idea round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhat are computers doing to work? The steam engine bent the curve of human history upwards by multiplying muscle power. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, both then at MIT, argue that computers are now doing the same for brainpower. Their question is what that means for jobs, for pay, and for who gets ahead.
Exponential; Digital; Combinatorial; Bounty and spread.
The authors' advice is to race with machines and get good at what they do badly: coming up with new ideas, spotting the big pattern, and complex communication. This week, hand one routine task to software and spend the hour it saves on one of those.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from The Second Machine Age in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Name That Idea round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
