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keerthiabinesh's review against another edition
4.0
If you are someone who is into technology and economics, then this book is definitely a good read with lots of anecdotes on how AI has currently started replacing humans in the current era. One story that stood out for me was between Henry Ford II and his union leader.
Ford: "How are you going to get these robots to pay union dues ?";
Union Leader: "How are you going to get them to buy your cars ?".
I remember asking this question to my economics professor about what will happen because of automation. His reply was simple and straightforward- They won't replace humans but job displacement will happen. I wasn't convinced though. This book gave more convincing answers to those questions but couldn't come up with a feasible solution either. This book concentrated more on the problem rather than the solution and also digressed towards the end into various topics that weren't of relevance.
The book also digressed from the topic of interest towards the end in multiple chapters. But overall, a good read about how AI could change the economy and our world in general.
Ford: "How are you going to get these robots to pay union dues ?";
Union Leader: "How are you going to get them to buy your cars ?".
I remember asking this question to my economics professor about what will happen because of automation. His reply was simple and straightforward- They won't replace humans but job displacement will happen. I wasn't convinced though. This book gave more convincing answers to those questions but couldn't come up with a feasible solution either. This book concentrated more on the problem rather than the solution and also digressed towards the end into various topics that weren't of relevance.
The book also digressed from the topic of interest towards the end in multiple chapters. But overall, a good read about how AI could change the economy and our world in general.
coraline_wilde's review against another edition
5.0
Holy shit balls this book is so spot on (so far) in setting up how our economy got to this point and I’m excited to see his recommendations on how to fix it. It’s super accessible and easily digestible so I feel like it would be good required reading in middle or high schools.
lucaconti's review against another edition
5.0
Economics meets technology and the result is our future. If you want to read into the future, this is the right book. Scary sometimes, beware.
ghostmuppet's review against another edition
5.0
Really Enjoyed this book, was a total eye opener to me. I understand it won't be everyone's subject. Glad I started this drive of mine to read more non fiction.
jdoetsch's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most important books I've read this year. Makes the case as to why the incoming automation wave is not like other technological breakthroughs, and how it's probably going to upend the kinds of economies that we're used to.
jgn's review against another edition
5.0
I'd give this a 4 were there other books on the same topic . . . There should be more, and were there more I think this book might slip into the second rank because it's a bit repetitive and sometimes narrow.
And yet.
Here are some quick review notes - I might write something more substantial later:
1. If you're under 30, this book is mandatory reading. Stop everything and read it, in particular Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 8.
By the same token, if you're a parent with children under the age of 30: Give them this book.
2. If you're an entrepreneur or are involved in a startup or venture-backed company, this book is mandatory reading. Stop everything and read it, in particular, Chapters 1-3, 5-7.
A few thoughts:
* This is a great read that makes a compelling argument that we need to take into an account a future where many people don't work. The author proposes a guaranteed minimum income, as many people have advocated recently: But his path to that conclusion is more detailed and supported by facts.
* The account of higher education is weak. If I ever get to review this at greater length I will have more to say.
* The author acknowledges that healthcare will be extremely resistant to the value added by automation. However . . . While there will still be many jobs in healthcare, they will be radically different jobs. If I had to propose a topic to the author for his next book, it would be about the changing structure of healthcare given the onslaught of automation.
And yet.
Here are some quick review notes - I might write something more substantial later:
1. If you're under 30, this book is mandatory reading. Stop everything and read it, in particular Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 8.
By the same token, if you're a parent with children under the age of 30: Give them this book.
2. If you're an entrepreneur or are involved in a startup or venture-backed company, this book is mandatory reading. Stop everything and read it, in particular, Chapters 1-3, 5-7.
A few thoughts:
* This is a great read that makes a compelling argument that we need to take into an account a future where many people don't work. The author proposes a guaranteed minimum income, as many people have advocated recently: But his path to that conclusion is more detailed and supported by facts.
* The account of higher education is weak. If I ever get to review this at greater length I will have more to say.
* The author acknowledges that healthcare will be extremely resistant to the value added by automation. However . . . While there will still be many jobs in healthcare, they will be radically different jobs. If I had to propose a topic to the author for his next book, it would be about the changing structure of healthcare given the onslaught of automation.
rgombert's review against another edition
5.0
Great book. really enjoyed the chapter on health care and the chapter on base income.
apattonbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty interesting book on what the rise of robotics will inevitably have on the economy. I actually learned a number of things in this and Martin Ford does a great job of showing the ramifications and has a rather considered solution to to the problem that fits into a growing economic theory.
michaelnlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
The New Yorker had a review of this book along with another book in the same topic.
"Robot" here is being used as a catch-all term for any sort of artificial intelligence managed device or process that results in much the same work being done with fewer people involved, basically. So one of the main things this book does is describe all the different ways robots are and could be (or will be) displacing people from doing work. That this will happen (and is happening) is indisputable.
The next question the book looks at is what the implications of this are for society - perhaps once the robots are doing many jobs people do today, we can all have more interesting and challenging work to do? That pays better? And so on. The short answer this author gives would be that he thinks this unlikely.
It seems to me that at this point, understanding the issues discussed in this book is essential. This book seemed a good choice since the author's background is software development and artificial intelligence and he is best qualified for where he describes the development of what robots can and will do, which is the part that seems the most novel at this point. He is not an economist, however, and a lot of the discussion of what will happen for society that he describes reflects his views that he periodically admits are not congruent with some or many "real" economists. Still much of what he says sounds reasonable.
I'm not sure why this book was reviewed so recently in the New Yorker, but anyway, one noticeable aspect is that with its publication date of May 2015 and the rapid rate of change in this area, I was aware of a number of examples that were further developments of what was described here. I wouldn't say that after a year and a half this book was on longer a useful source of information because it was out of date, but it wasn't good that many trend lines had moved along quite a bit.
"Robot" here is being used as a catch-all term for any sort of artificial intelligence managed device or process that results in much the same work being done with fewer people involved, basically. So one of the main things this book does is describe all the different ways robots are and could be (or will be) displacing people from doing work. That this will happen (and is happening) is indisputable.
The next question the book looks at is what the implications of this are for society - perhaps once the robots are doing many jobs people do today, we can all have more interesting and challenging work to do? That pays better? And so on. The short answer this author gives would be that he thinks this unlikely.
It seems to me that at this point, understanding the issues discussed in this book is essential. This book seemed a good choice since the author's background is software development and artificial intelligence and he is best qualified for where he describes the development of what robots can and will do, which is the part that seems the most novel at this point. He is not an economist, however, and a lot of the discussion of what will happen for society that he describes reflects his views that he periodically admits are not congruent with some or many "real" economists. Still much of what he says sounds reasonable.
I'm not sure why this book was reviewed so recently in the New Yorker, but anyway, one noticeable aspect is that with its publication date of May 2015 and the rapid rate of change in this area, I was aware of a number of examples that were further developments of what was described here. I wouldn't say that after a year and a half this book was on longer a useful source of information because it was out of date, but it wasn't good that many trend lines had moved along quite a bit.
ericlawton's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fairly thorough coverage of the displacement of human labourers by robots or AI software. Although there is some gee-whiz over-enthusiasm for the technology, it is more realistic than some I have read and it rightly covers more economics than the details of the technology. If you are reasonably up-to-date on the technology, you may learn a lot about the economic context and vice versa.
As a technologist, I found it not too far from accurate except that I found many of the explanations by analogy wasted far to much time explaining the thing the technology was analogous to. If you don't understand that thing, a direct explanation is just as effective. And the analogies were often weak.
I've spent a fair bit of time reading economics too, but there were some very helpful statistical details in here from my point of view. For example, about correlations between technology and more focussed employment trends (e.g. total hours worked is a better measure than employment percentage as it shows where people have been forced into part-time work).
The biggest issue I had was that it is all based on extrapolating existing trends on an assumption that capitalism won't change radically or be replaced, even though many of the statistics seemed to me to be fairly good evidence that the underlying assumption is false.
There is some useful discussion about how we should change things, including some good analysis of basic income, though this is limited by the assumption that we will continue to patch the system, with no discussion of more radical alternatives, not even to explain why they can't work, if that's what he thing.
As a technologist, I found it not too far from accurate except that I found many of the explanations by analogy wasted far to much time explaining the thing the technology was analogous to. If you don't understand that thing, a direct explanation is just as effective. And the analogies were often weak.
I've spent a fair bit of time reading economics too, but there were some very helpful statistical details in here from my point of view. For example, about correlations between technology and more focussed employment trends (e.g. total hours worked is a better measure than employment percentage as it shows where people have been forced into part-time work).
The biggest issue I had was that it is all based on extrapolating existing trends on an assumption that capitalism won't change radically or be replaced, even though many of the statistics seemed to me to be fairly good evidence that the underlying assumption is false.
There is some useful discussion about how we should change things, including some good analysis of basic income, though this is limited by the assumption that we will continue to patch the system, with no discussion of more radical alternatives, not even to explain why they can't work, if that's what he thing.
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