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Technological innovation is already transforming the economy, and this change will accelerate in the future. To discuss what these changes mean for business and society at large, I’m joined by MIT’s Andrew McAfee.
Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist at MIT, where he studies how technology is changing business, the economy, and society. He is also the co-author of several books, including: Race Against the Machine and The Second Machine Age, and his most recent one: Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future.
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WADR, i think that the show missed at least a significant part of the point behind many people’s concerns about Google and the idea that it may need to be treated as a utility at some point. In my experience, people aren’t worried about Google having a near monopoly on search in terms of cost or quality or competition, but instead the worry is about the ability to influence what information people will access – without our being aware of it. Suppose that Google decided (like social media platforms are doing) that it was worried about ‘fake news’ or the proliferation of speech it considered to be hateful. It could generate search results designed to steer people away from or even effectively eliminate certain information sources. That’s the concern my friends and I have.
You repeatedly mention silicon valley as the only thing that has gone right in the American economy recently.
What about fracking, in fact I think I’ve heard that described as more important and that Texas at one point could account for all the new jobs created since the recession. Maybe that’s wrong, but I’m pretty sure Fracking was/is big.