Skynet is not self-aware…...yet!
Stars: 4/5
That’s one of the things we all want to know, right? When will computers & machines take over the world and we begin the battle, Us versus Them, a la the Terminator movies. Well, MIT’s Brynjolfsson and McAfee do not necessarily provide a timeline on when humans will need to “scorch the sky” (The Matrix), but they do provide superb insight into obstacles that have impeded the progress in AI and sentient machines: Moravec’s paradox, even the best computers are poor at large-frame pattern matching, complex communication, etc… They also make the case that, at present, we are standing at the threshold of a great explosion in technological advancement, of the like we have never seen before, The Second Machine Age.
Other questions and topics also addressed by the authors:
- What does it take to survive in the future? It’s not Us versus Them, it’s more like Us working with Them. Which types of jobs are destined to be automated, which are not? Future state calls upon the next gen to be creative thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators as opposed to individuals specializing in a specific career or possessing a finite set of skills for a given industry.
- Policy and economics, “the spread and the bounty.” Does innovation and technological progress help us all or does it seem as though only a select few reap the financial rewards of advancements in technology or both?
- Up to this point, why is technological progress barely keeping up with the new and innovative ideas we keep dreaming up. How and why will that be different in the Second Machine Age.
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