The Autonomous Revolution

Reclaiming the Future We've Sold to Machines

De: William Davidow, Michael S. Malone

Narrado por: Michael S. Malone

The coauthors of the seminal book The Virtual Corporation describe how the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual environments are ushering in an epic cultural transformation - and how we can thrive in this new era.

We are at the dawn of the Autonomous Revolution, a turning point in human history as decisive as the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. More and more, AI-based machines are replacing human beings, and online environments are gathering our data and using it to manipulate us. This loss of human autonomy amounts to nothing less than a societal phase change, a fundamental paradigm shift. The same institutions will remain - schools, banks, churches, and corporations - but they will radically change form, obey new rules, and use new tools.

William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone go deeply into the enormous implications of these developments. They show why increases in productivity no longer translate into increases in the GDP and how zero cost, one-to-many communications have been turned into tools for cybercrime and propaganda. Many of the book's recommendations - such as using taxes to control irresponsible internet behavior and enabling people to put their data into what are essentially virtual personal information "safety deposit boxes" - are bold and visionary, but we must figure out how we will deal with these emerging challenges now, before the Autonomous Revolution overcomes us.

©2020 William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone (P)2020 William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone

Interesting ideas

This book contains some interesting ideas drawing from the past to look into the future. I was a bit bugged by the fact that the narrator mispronounces several words and the overall recording quality is mediocre at best (audible static, background sounds, etc.). Still a thought provoking listen though!

Not terrible but not great either

I hoped to discover a nugget that wasn't already clear to me. And, the narrator should stick to writing and let the professionals narrate. Painful to listen to.