Summary of Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee's The Second Machine Age

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 It is difficult to answer when exactly ‘human history’ began. Some argue that the domestication of animals was a fundamental development that significantly changed the course of things, but other important developments have nothing to do with animals, plants, or fighting men.

#2 Morris has done a lot of research to try to figure out which developments are the most important, and he has concluded that none of them have mattered much compared to something else that bent the curve of human history like nothing before or since: social development.

#3 The Industrial Revolution was the most important period of transformation in world history, as it was the first time that humanity’s progress was driven primarily by technological innovation.

#4 The second machine age is doing for mental power what the steam engine and its descendants did for muscle power. It is allowing us to blow past previous limitations and enter new territory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669377290

IRB Media

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Insights on Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee's The Second Machine Age

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

It is difficult to answer when exactly ‘human history’ began. Some argue that the domestication of animals was a fundamental development that significantly changed the course of things, but other important developments have nothing to do with animals, plants, or fighting men.

#2

Morris has done a lot of research to try to figure out which developments are the most important, and he has concluded that none of them have mattered much compared to something else that bent the curve of human history like nothing before or since: social development.

#3

The Industrial Revolution was the most important period of transformation in world history, as it was the first time that humanity’s progress was driven primarily by technological innovation.

#4

The second machine age is doing for mental power what the steam engine and its descendants did for muscle power. It is allowing us to blow past previous limitations and enter new territory.

#5

We wrote this book to learn about the impact of digital technologies. We spoke with inventors, investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, and many others who make technology and put it to work.

#6

We are living in a time of astonishing progress with digital technologies. These technologies are not new, but they have been refined over the last fifty years. They are helping us increase both the variety and the volume of our consumption.

#7

The second machine age is bringing with it some difficult challenges and choices. The economic consequences of the second machine age are bounty and spread, which are the increases in volume, variety, and quality and decreases in cost of the many offerings brought on by modern technological progress.

#8

The final section of the book, chapters 12 through 15, discusses what interventions will be appropriate and effective for this age. We’ll offer our ideas about how to best accomplish