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Rise of the Robots
- Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
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Rise of the Robots
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Summary
Winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015.
In a world of self-driving cars and big data, smart algorithms and Siri, we know that artificial intelligence is getting smarter every day. Though all these nifty devices and programs might make our lives easier, they're also well on their way to making "good" jobs obsolete. A computer winning Jeopardy might seem like a trivial, if impressive, feat, but the same technology is making paralegals redundant as it undertakes electronic discovery and is soon to do the same for radiologists. And that, no doubt, will only be the beginning.
In Silicon Valley the phrase disruptive technology is tossed around on a casual basis. No one doubts that technology has the power to devastate entire industries and upend various sectors of the job market. But Rise of the Robots asks a bigger question: can accelerating technology disrupt our entire economic system to the point where a fundamental restructuring is required? Companies like Facebook and YouTube may need only a handful of employees to achieve enormous valuations, but what will be the fate of those of us not lucky or smart enough to have gotten into the great shift from human labor to computation?
Rise of the Robots is a both an exploration of this new technology and a call to arms to address its implications. Written by a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, this is an audiobook that cannot be dismissed as the ranting of a Luddite or an outsider. Ford has seen the future, and he knows that for some of us, the rise of the robots will be very frightening indeed.
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Critic reviews
"The elephant in the room of artificial intelligence is mass obsolescence of the human workforce it threatens to supplant. Ford stares the elephant in the face." ( Observer)
"Packed with irresistible gee-whizz facts but...also anxious about what might happen next, especially to human employment...well worth reading." ( Guardian)
What listeners say about Rise of the Robots
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-05-16
Long But Too Economical
A very relevant book if your concerned about what the world might look like in 2030 or 2100. There were some good leads, with references to recent and future technology and its effects on society - which was what I was really interested in. However, it was too long with expositions of the author's ideas on quite specific economic examples relevant particularly to the US, such as personal theories on possible improvements to the American healthcare model. The book touched on aspects of what sort of jobs might replaced by automaton in the future and for instance basic trends in nanotechnology, robots and more so computing and AI, but for me it did not go into the dilemma about future employment or pragmatic day to day existential (or philosophical) issues enough.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Martin
- 26-12-16
This book written after 2016...
Pretty good book but not much news tbh. The author did raise a few very interesting questions though. I'd love to listen to this book re-written after a disastrous political year 2016.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ace Ken
- 08-04-17
A well explained opinion
If you could sum up Rise of the Robots in three words, what would they be?
Interestingly, thought provoking
What was one of the most memorable moments of Rise of the Robots?
That spread of wealth will be key to preparing for the future, that wide spread access to disposal income will become more and more imperative as automation increases. businesses need to share the savings they make from automation, by making their products and services cheaper.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
no, it is good to do your own research along side listening to the book, so the writer does not make your mind up for you.
Any additional comments?
Im glad I listened to it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- j
- 12-09-19
Good read
Lays out well what will happen in the future. Good use of facts and minimum bias. Although more real life examples of perpetrators of scandalous schemes should of been mentioned. But this is not that kind of book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-07-16
Awesome
Great insight into the future of techology and humanity. A must read for any technology and AI enthusiast.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Smith
- 06-02-19
Very worrying and absolutely cogent
Well-researched and very convincing. Well written and performed too. Even better than Robots by John Jordan on the same theme.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Joseph K.87
- 26-10-16
great thought provoking book
this is not a work of fiction although the content is reminiscent of sci-fi. this book gave me anxiety... in a good way
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- G. M. Edwards
- 10-10-20
An abundance of data
Excellent and informing work on the second biggest problem facing our age. The flow between technology and economics is done seamlessly.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Julian
- 21-06-16
An influential book for our time
Very good factual base and first degree impact assessment. A very useful read to understand trends.
As collateral benefit it helped me understand why wealth concentration is an issue.
Key takeout for me: we -economic conservative-types- usually view the recipients of benefits in the wagon and the workers doing the pulling. With machines doing more and more of the pulling we will increasingly find people we know, and enen "us" in tge wagon. The AI / automation revolution is here, re thinking our social construct is imperative.
The discussion on the US health system was, in my view, too long.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- T. Pearce
- 01-12-16
Eye opening
Everybody should read this. Possibly the most important thing I've read in a long time. E are sorrowing towards a disaster, and this books shows us the size of it and provide escape routes.
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1 person found this helpful