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The Glass Cage
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The Glass Cage

Automation and Us

Nicholas Carr
W.W. Norton, 2014
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

The provocative, best-selling technology writer Nicholas Carr argues that automation, for all its benefits, exacts hidden costs. He recalls airline crashes that resulted from pilots losing their edge as skilled fliers due to their excess dependency on autopilots. He sees other downsides, too, such as the way GPS navigation software engenders driver laziness and disconnection from the surrounding geography. Some reviewers describe Carr as a postmodern Luddite, but he comes across more as a selective contrarian than a full-fledged technology hater. Carr is an entertaining writer and his musings are a joy to read. getAbstract recommends his treatise to business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, futurists, techno-geeks, and anyone seeking an alternate look at the always-evolving technology landscape.

Summary

Automation

Automation defines the technology age. You don’t need to remember driving directions since your GPS tells you where to go. Soon, you may not need to learn to drive at all. Google’s self-driving fleet of automated Toyota Priuses has already logged nearly a million miles without incident. The only accident occurred when a person took over driving one of the automated cars at Google’s headquarters in California.

Google’s experiment creates a new frontier in the world of automation. Scientists long thought computers could excel only at “explicit knowledge” – making calculations, for instance – and would fall short at “tacit skills” like walking down a crowded street or chasing a flying baseball. Yet Google cars have mastered the tacit skill of driving. Computer programmers can now break down skills requiring tacit knowledge into coded bits of explicit knowledge their machines can understand. If programmers can automate making a left turn at a busy intersection, they can mechanize other tasks, from flying airplanes to analyzing financial statements.

Automation is neither all good nor all bad, though today’s rise of the machine would cause Luddites to recoil...

About the Author

Nicholas Carr is author of The Shallows – a Pulitzer Prize finalist – The Big Switch and Does IT Matter? His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times and Wired.

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