LIS201 Final Project
An analytical review of
The Second Machine Age
My Analytical Review
The Second Machine Age aims to better our understanding of the technological world we now live in. The authors have broken the book down into three distinct sections. Chapters 1-6 observe and analyze the fundamental characteristics of ‘The Second Machine’ age. This section illustrates where we are technologically and explains how we got here. Chapters 7-11 discuss the ‘Second Machine Age’ from a more economical perspective. The third and final section, chapters 12-15, considers the future. In this section, the authors provide their own suggestions on the actions we, as a society, should take in order to fully realize the potential of information and technology.
The Fundamentals of the Second Machine Age
The first six chapters of this book are meant to help the reader understand where we are technologically at this point in time, as well as to illuminate how we as a society have arrived at this point. According to Brynjolfsson and McAfee, the point we are currently at is the dawn of the Second Machine Age, which is defined by the authors as “an inflection point in the history of our economies and societies because of digitization.” Autonomous vehicles, computers that can beat the smartest humans in a game of Jeopardy, and machines capable of complex communication with humans are a few of the provided examples of recent, astonishing technological advancement. A trait shared by all of these examples is the fact that each of these technological advancements were, until recently, thought to be out of our reach and technical capabilities. That these innovations were all made possible despite our pessimism indicates both the power of advancing technology and our lack of knowledge and insight about the technological world we now live in.
Of the first section of the book, the chapter that most effectively explains how technology has been able to advance on such a large scale is the chapter covering Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law is the imperative that suggests that the number of transistors that can fit in a dense, integrated circuit doubles every 18-24 months (Sterne, 2007, p. 19), and the authors believe it to be one of the biggest contributors to our technological advancement. The significance of Moore’s Law is easy to overlook, but the authors are quick to clarify the power of an exponential function. Their most striking example of this point is their comparison of two different computers from different years. The ASCI Red was the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time of its introduction in 1996. It cost the U.S. government $55 million, and occupied nearly 1,600 square feet of floor space. However, this supercomputer was not even as powerful as the Sony Playstation 3, which was released only nine years later. This is a clear and powerful example of the power of Moore’s Law as both the cost and size of the PS3 were meager fractions of those of the ASCI Red, despite the similar performance levels and capabilities of the two machines.
vs.
The ASCI Red Supercomputer (pictured top) would be eclipsed by even the Sony PS3 (pictured bottom) thanks to Moore's Law.
Economics of the Second Machine Age
It is no secret that information technologies have had a resounding impact on the economy. Whether by increasing the availability of a product or service through digitization, or by forcing people out of work by making their job or role obsolete, technology has changed everything. The two most prominent economic consequences of advancing technology according to the authors, bounty and spread, are explored in-depth. Bounty can be roughly defined as the output of our society. Technology has seen bounty increase as, among other reasons, it allowed us access to untapped and previously unknown markets. The addition of revenue produced through digital goods and services that were previously non-existent, as well as the increased productivity made possible by advancing technology, has seen dramatic increases in both GDP and the quality of life.
Through technological innovation, Mark Zuckerberg was able to capitalize on a market eager for new technology to become extremely wealthy. Facebook, however, is just one example of many companies that significantly altered its market. Combined, these alterations have significantly affected the distribution of wealth.
However, information technology also has well documented negative aspects. The Digital Divide, defined as an economic and social inequality in a given population that depends on an individual’s access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (van Dijk, 2006, p.178). When the digital divide is looked at from solely an economical perspective (an increasingly unequal distribution of wealth), we are left with what Brynjolfsson and McAfee refer to as spread, the more negative economic consequence of technology. The authors use the company Kodak as an effective example to illustrate spread. Pre-digitization, Kodak employed as many as 145,000 people. Digitization
made many of Kodak’s services obsolete, eventually resulting in the company filing for bankruptcy. Today, the sharing of photos is done online through platforms such as Facebook or Flickr. As of 2012 Facebook had about 4,600 employees, providing more convenient photo sharing services than Kodak ever could. Despite Facebook having a market value several times greater than Kodak ever did (an increase in bounty), that it employs a fraction of what Kodak did indicates a large change in the distribution of income. Since the photography market was obviously not the only market affected by digitization, it becomes clear that spread is a significant problem.
Suggestions for our Future
According to Brynjolfsson and McAfee, our economic goals should be to maximize bounty while reducing spread. The last four chapters of The Second Machine Age are dedicated towards these goals. One of these chapters makes suggestions for the individual so as to not be left behind as technology races ahead. Though some of their advice was obvious enough (such as their suggestion to get a college degree), one particular idea stood out among the rest. In addressing the widespread fear that computers and automated robots will take our jobs, the authors remind the readers of our main advantage over machine: human innovation. The human mind is far more capable and coming up with new ideas than a computer is, and
One of the more prominent negative consequences of a technology-focused education is that it inhibits the development of important social and communication skills in children that they would otherwise learn in a classic school environment with a more participatory and group-driven focus.
the author’s almost seem to use this fact to spur the reader on optimistically. Another chapter in this section is devoted to policy to increase bounty and mitigate spread. The authors suggest policies in a number of different areas from infrastructure to taxes to education. Among their suggestions for education policy are higher wages but also higher accountability for teachers so as to increase teacher quality. A further education policy suggestion is to
increase the implementation of technology in the classroom. While they make a good case regarding the benefits of technology in the classroom, the authors neglect to discuss any of the documented harmful consequences of a technology-focused education. MIT professor Sherry Turkle has written about the consequences of our society’s immersion in information technology. She introduced the notion of “the crisis in the ability to talk” where technology has impeded the development of important social skills in youths (Rotella, 2013). Whilst discussing the potential of a more technology-focused education, surely Brynjolfsson and McAfee should have at least addressed possible negative aspects of this policy as well. Overall, Brynjolfsson and McAfee paint a positive picture of our possible future. The value that technology offers us is endless. Though our current economic practices have not yet evolved to a form that is beneficial to everyone, the authors argue that this vision is entirely possible. They acknowledge that much work is to be done if we are to fully realize the benefits, economic and otherwise, that technology offers us, but in their closing, the authors drive home the most important point of all: we can decide our future, and we have the power to shape our destiny.
My Final Thoughts
It became clear early on that this book targets a very broad audience. It is written and the arguments are explained in such a way that even those with little or no prior knowledge of information and technology are able to grasp the authors' arguments. This strategy has made for a very readable and interesting book. I commend Brynjolfsson and McAfee on this work, as they discuss and break down some very important issues. The Second Machine Age is definitely worth reading for its quality and enjoyable narrative, if not for the sheer importance of its subject. Reading this book will provide new knowledge and insight on technology, the economy, and the very real issues that our society currently faces.
Works Cited
Rotella, C. (2013, September 12). No Child Left Untableted. The New York Times.
Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/no-child-
left-untableted.html?hp&_r=0&pagewanted=print
Sterne, J. (2007). Out with the Trash: On the Future of New Media. In C. Acland
(Ed.), Residual Media (pp. 16-31). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.
van Dijk, J. (2006). Social Structure. In The Network Society: Social Aspects of
New Media (2nd ed., pp. 156-189). London: SAGE Publications.