The second machine age: work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies

Abstract

A New York Times Bestseller A revolution is under way. In recent years, Googles autonomous cars have logged thousands of miles on American highways and IBMs Watson trounced the best human Jeopardy! players. Digital technologieswith hardware, software, and networks at their corewill 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 MITs Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfeetwo thinkers at the forefront of their fieldreveal the forces driving the reinvention of our lives and our economy. As the full impact of digital technologies is felt, we will realize 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 kindsfrom lawyers to truck driverswill 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 will alter how we think about issues of technological, societal, and economic progress.