Publisher Description
From Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the global tech podcast Exponential View, comes a bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data—and our ability to deal with its effects
We are living in the first exponential age.
High-tech innovations are created at a dazzling speed; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace.
Azeem Azhar knows this better than most. Over the last three decades he has founded companies bought by Amazon and Microsoft, served as the Economist’s first ever internet correspondent, and created a leading international tech newsletter and podcast, the Exponential View.
Now, Azhar offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology—especially that of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Spotify—is changing the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an “exponential gap,” in which technological changes rapidly outpace our society’s ability to catch up with them. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time—from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and big data. And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from destroying our societies.
The result is a wholly new way to think about technology. It will transform your understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.
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“While many talk about the rate of innovation, too few talk about its direction. Azeem’s new book helps bring that directionality to the surface through a dynamic understanding of the connections between economic, social, and technological forces. Read this book if you are interested in how we can design a more inclusive and sustainable system with a redirection of technological change at its center.”
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Mariana Mazzucato, professor at University College London and author of Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism
