The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World Paperback – 5 Jun. 2018

In today's polarized world of left vs right, us vs them, Hartley coherently lays out a nuanced argument for partnership between fuzzies and techies to advance society forward. As a purpose-driven entrepreneur with engineering, social science and business degreess, a found this to be a refreshing take. It's well written and researched with engaging stories. Highly recommended!

In my opinion, this is a worthy, even-handed and appealing appraisal of the current tech zeitgeist, clearly and efficaciously delivered by an author with an obviously considerable but tactfully understated insight into the industry. Some nicely worded passages particularly relevant to this coming age of automation. On a lighter note the work offers solace and hope to liberal arts graduates everywhere! Recommended for anyone seeking depth in their understanding of our developing digital revolution.

New vision and perspective about mixing concepts. A blend of a Brandnew way to face the work market and the technological challenges of the new-future.

This is part of the continuing narrative of the digital age in which one of the main questions is, ‘Will Robots replace humans?’ The prevailing view is that humans will continue to be relevant for some time more. A common assumption in this age is that it is a world that belongs to the techie – a more respectable term for a ‘geek’. Hartley challenges this assumption. Answering his own question, ‘what skills do liberal arts graduates specifically possess to contribute to this brave new world’, Hartley says, ‘a good liberal arts education teaches many skills that are not only valuable to the general world of business, but are in fact vital to innovating the next wave of breakthrough tech-driven products and services’.There are many areas in which present difficult problems not only to humans but to robots as well. Philippa Foot’s ‘trolley problem’ is a vexing problem for humans. It will not be easy for machines either. Can a self-driven car be programmed to value its passengers’ lives more than that of the lives of those in a runaway trolley coming its way? Working towards the relevance of his thesis in the book, Hartley recalls innumerable examples of liberal arts graduates succeeding in the tech world. The long list includes Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest (political science, Yale); Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, Airbnb, (fine arts, Rhode Island School of Design); Steve Loughlin,, (founder of RelateIQ, public policy major, Stanford); Susan Wojcicki, (CEO of YouTube, history and literature, Harvard); and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, (medieval history, Stanford).There are some who believe that the human factor ought to be totally removed in technological innovations, but citing Shyam Sankar of Palantir, Hartley shows the relevance and value of human analysts in the age of big data. After relating the story of coalition forces raid on an al Qaeda safe house and discovering crumpled pieces of paper with handwritten biographic sketches in Arabic, Hartley concluded that detecting the exact source of recruitment of an al-Qaeda group in Syria ‘would not have been possible without machines sorting through the volumes of data, but the data would not have been available, or of high quality, without the hands-on process of raiding a safe house, recovering physical assets, and translating and tagging the human resource forms of machine processing’.One of the main points in this book is about the value of human contribution in the tech world inhibited by nothing but algorithms and data. ‘The truth is, data is not objective, and the biases within the date sets must be accounted for in the analysis of them’. Crime data is presents Hartley with plenty of examples. The statistics of crime do not reveal what crimes are not reported, and why. ‘Will someone with a dozen unpaid parking tickets report a petty theft from his car?’In the course of all this, we face the question, how do we make technology more ethical? That sounds weird, of course, but that is the title of one of the chapters in this book. It confronts the opportunities for unethical conduct created by technology – systems that bore into our subconscious mind, and make us spend time and money at addictive or obsessive pace. The liberal arts are not only important, but Hartley also examines the ways we can enhance our learning, making algorithms serve us rather than dominate us. It is not only because the humanities will equip us with humanity, it is because humanities teaches ethics and builds character; it teaches the value of experience. Without character, the vain human may be worse than a machine.

To be clear - I was already sold on the idea that it is absolutely necessary for "techies" (those from STEM) disciplines and "fuzzies" (those from humanities and the social sciences) to work together in full partnership to deal with the most pressing problems facing humanity and to create new opportunities for tech to be mobilized for the betterment of the human condition. This book makes that case. While seemingly addressed to people with a humanities background, I think that this is essential reading for those in the STEM fields as well. We all have a lot to learn from each other and it is time to break down these contrived barriers between the disciplines that hamper our ability to develop and deploy technologies for the benefit of all. I highly recommend this book - perhaps most to those youth who are still pursuing their studies. Take advantage of the many disciplines that are at your doorstep while in college/university. I also recommend this to educators and government officials who reinforce mistaken perceptions about the value of an education in the humanities and social sciences.

The book is filled with excellent stories of fuzzies making a huge impact in tech world

Encantada con encontrar este libro en México. Good English to read

Muito bom

This book could lead to new paradigm shifts in how we think about technology--and its role in education. Hartley’s clear writing reminds us that even during this era of major tech transformation, we still need the human spirit to guide technology. Only through liberal arts-educated students can we make the best use of technology through the "soft skills" which Hartley explains through visits to the schools the tech execs themselves send their kids. Tech and education need to blend. One sees this in Hartley's example of innovative blended learning--likely secondary education's future--where students go further than lecture-based teaching models. I can see interest in leading education technology companies like AltSchool and Knowledge Platform rising because of this book.Overall, a clear, fun, insightful read. Enjoyed it very much. Educators, students, parents, policy makers, and entrepreneurs will want to read it.