Power and Progress

Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity

By: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson overturn conventional wisdom about how economies work--revealing the untold story of who wins and who loses the rewards of prosperity--in a work that fundamentally transforms how we look at and understand the world.

Throughout history, technological change — whether it takes the form of agricultural improvements in the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution, or today’s artificial intelligence — has been viewed as a main driver of prosperity, working in the public interest. The reality, though, is that technology is shaped by what powerful people want and believe, generating riches, social respect, cultural prominence, and further political voice for those already powerful. For most of the rest of us, there is the illusion of progress.

Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson debunk modern techno-optimism through a dazzling, original account of how technological choices have changed the course of history. From vivid stories of how the economic surplus of the Middle Ages was appropriated by an ecclesiastical elite to build cathedrals while the peasants starved, to the making of vast fortunes from digital technologies today as millions are pushed towards poverty, we see how the path of technology is determined and who influences its trajectory.

To achieve the true potential of innovation, we need to ensure technology is creating new jobs and opportunities rather than marginalizing most people, through automated work and political passivity. We need to use the tremendous digital advances of the last half century to create useful and empowering tools, and seize back control from a small elite of hubristic, messianic tech leaders pursuing
their own interests.

With their breakthrough economic theory and manifesto for building a better society, Acemoglu and Johnson provide the understanding and vision to reimagine and reshape the path of technology and create true shared prosperity.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson (P)2023 PublicAffairs

Worth your time

Great read…and these two just won the Nobel Prize in economics so certainly worth your time

Recommended but..

Great book. I definitely would recommend. Only issue is that the second half was like propaganda for the Democratic Party. The authors fail to mention any of the benefits tech has provided- only the negatives

A different take on Technology’s impact

In the style of Acemoglu an interesting view of the role of technology on the progress of society. A cynical but realistic perspective: who benefits from technology developments? You might not agree 100 % with their view but it is still very interesting.

Technology fatalist

Interesting anecdotes but lacking a powerful insight. Machine is the enemy of the uneducated so redirect technology from automation?

Not as great as "why nations fail", but not bad

I read why nations fail a few times and it's really an eye opener especially with brief history into how dictatorships form.

So I had hoped for something approaching that. Instead we got somewhat biased and sometimes plain wrong content.

For example when authors attempted to explain the nature of machine learning they went along the lines of "oh you throw a bunch of data into this machine and it gives you some mostly substandard results". When in reality it's more like a mock up of biological neurons with some differences but a lot of similarities. If biological neurons are like birds, then artificial neurons are like planes. They work in a very similar fashion.

That was never mentioned and uneducated reader will be mislead about the technical nature of ML.
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Next comes deep mind Alpha go zero. The most fascinating thing about it was that it was one of first AI systems that had a much broader capability than any system before. It went from "narrow AI" quite a few steps towards "general AI".
Not only it was able to play Go, but it managed to also master countless other tasks - something no other system was ever able to do. All previous systems could only be made for a single purpose. Like chess engines. Or NPC agent or ECU in a car. These could only do one thing. Alpha go zero could do many things.

Obviously still VERY far from true general purpose, but nevertheless less that was it's defining feature.

Instead authors chose to spend time talking how narrow Alpha go is -if that's not misleading than what is?

Because I'm very familiar with these two subjects I was able to spot these mistakes. But with that I couldn't help but be more skeptical towards the rest of the content, which I wasn't familiar with and could learn a great deal.

However it's still a great book that draws inspiration from Yuval Noah Harari books and Daron Acemoglu previous Why Nations Fail book.

It's still a world class book. Just take with a grain of salt and it will provide a lot of food for thought.

Another note: as a left leaning centrist techno-optimist it was a bit of a challenge to take it, but I still did it and enjoyed challenging my views. But for someone right leaning book could be extremely hard to swallow unless you're ready to listen to another side.

Good historical read

Not bad from a historical perspective, albeit with a Liberal slant. Overall worth a read or listen.

Critical Read

This is a critical read and I highly recommend this, for anyone, wanting to learn more about the future of technology and its affect on we the people.

Intelligent arguments that take into account very modern events and AI

It’s nice to read something that is talking about the most pressing social issues at this time period. The author has an interesting, worthwhile take on it all.

Thought Provoking

Some questionable underlying assumptions about people but addressing a critical issue. Provided new insights if not compelling answers.

Interesting paradigm, riveting history, and "OK" Policy proposals

The history of narrative on the inevitability of "progress" is fascinating - especially the stories of the Suez vs Panama Canal. Their analysis of the risks of AI are sharper than their propods for how to keep society in control of the forces of AI rather than giving them over to the rich and powerful; the need to keep control.of AI is clear, but the mechanics to do so seem a little idealistic. Still an excellent read with a really compelling paradigm to analyze discussions of technology.