Power and Progress

I’ve been studying the impact of automation and ai on the job market since 2017, and you often hear speculation or attempts to downplay the number of jobs that will be lost to AI. Now with ChatGPT getting headlines, people are taking this issue more seriously.Bottom line, job destruction is automated but job creation is not. And though data is not easy to find (very few companies are willing to say how many people are let go from AI), it is there, and half of companies across verticals report significant headcount reduction from robotic process automation.And just recently more CEO’s are more open and honest about this.Society needs to act. I hope every member of congress, the senate, parliaments around the world read this book and take it very seriously.Daron and Simon are not alarmists - they lay out a realist perspective.

I really enjoyed how this book, 'Power and Progress' by Daron Acemoglu, makes you think and how it sets the scene with historical events. Some people might find its ideas a bit challenging, especially the part where it talks about how we can shape the way technology grows and changes. But I think it's an important idea for more people to think about and talk about. I read this book at the same time as 'Chip Wars' and 'The Power Law,' and I feel like all three books work really well together. They each have different things to say, but when you read them all, you get a fuller picture. They help you understand more about how technology, power, and progress are all connected.

The book reviews several cases in the history of technology where only the wealthy people enjoyed improving the technology while the status of the workers was worsened. It claims that we are in a similar situation following the application of automation and AI. I enjoyed reading the chapters about history very much but found the manifesto-like chapters at the end of the book less convincing.An excellent review of the history of technology and a manifesto-like criticism of AI

I am old, now retired from careers in universities, engineering, and government. For years I have been concerned - personally and professionalliy - with issues raised in this book. These authors have done an outstanding job of cutting through the noise and rhetoric of much if not most literature on these topics. They transcend the narrowness and self-promotion found in academic disciplines - poliitical science (sic), economics, sociology, etc. - and guide the reader through concerns that matter most in the real world.What technology is, who controls it, and how the latter manipulate our thinking to "sell" the results and mandates of those technologies.In sum, reading this book is relatively easy, often thrilling, and perhaps emotionally stressful if it leads the readers to question fundamental understandings of how societies function.

Acemoglu has peaked for me for a while now, he manages to isolate problems in our system but fails to provide creative solutions, he reverts back to more state control over every other solution in the end.He also very strategically failed to talk about how Google, Facebook, Twitter (before Elon) got in bed with certain US state agencies and implements wide array political censorship to whomever stands against the left, Acemoglu is obviously taking side in the matter and underplaying -nay- completely skipping the far left oppression directed towards free speech in the West which is on par with Russian or Chinese state oppression. Sad to see him suffer from TDS as well, he is no longer and objective voice in these matters in my opinion.

Provides a coherent framework for how technology impacts on economic growth, wages and wealth distribution by drawing on history of economies, societies and organisations. I learnt a lot from this book and the framework is extremely useful in framing how technological change together with social and economic relations and decisions impact on the world we live in. The bibliography is extensive and well organised allowing for deep dive on many of the fascinating topics covered in the book, that will continue to be of use for many years to come. I’ve read some of the prior materials from the authors, and they are definitely on my top list of thought leaders to follow. Many thanks for a great book.

Blind techno optimism, like any kind of blind faith, doesn't sound like a good idea. To that end, the book definitely opens one's eyes through interesting examples and various historical perspectives that raise concerns and alarm us to the need of understanding technological trends and aligning policies and institutions to try to maximize and to broaden the societal benefits while containing the undesirable effects.

Este excelente libro que con ejemplos históricos e investigaciones relevantes nos muestra que la tecnología tiene el gran potencial de cerrar brechas si se usa de forma adecuada y se ponen las salvaguardas para que la mayoría de la población se beneficie de ellas, pero también nos muestra su lado oscuro y lo que pasa cuando la tecnología no se utiliza para aumentar la productividad de las personas, sino únicamente para reducir costes y aumentar la rentabilidad de una empresa.