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For more than half a century, science fiction has imagined a dystopian future dominated by computers. Kevin Roose, technology columnist for the New York Times, argues that the future has arrived. Even with artificial intelligence still in its infancy, large technology companies are already commanding our economy, automating our jobs, corrupting our politics, and capturing our attention. Apps and algorithms are reshaping the human experience.
So what is to be done? How do we devise policies and reshape institutions so that human beings can live happy, fulfilling lives in a world increasingly built for and by machines?
Based on a decade of reporting, Roose offers surprising and simple lessons: First, that democratic governments rather than for-profit companies should be making the most important decisions about deploying new technologies. Second, that educational institutions should be cultivating the qualities that make students most human—creativity, empathy, and interdisciplinary exploration—rather than training narrowly for jobs that could become obsolete. In order to dominate the future of machines, we have to be creators rather than cogs.
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