On my Facebook account, I have documented books that I read. Since books usually prove to be more photogenic than me, my feed in usually a lot of pictures of books. I've sometimes thought of doing more in-depth reviews, possibly video ones. But, I figure for now, I might do so on my blog here. After all, I have it. So...
Two things on the agenda today. One: a review of my latest book, and two: a reading challenge.
The first book finished in 2017 was an audio book. I listened to "The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that will Shape Our Future" I wasn't sure about the audio book format. I enjoy podcasts, but tend to lose focus on them if they are longer than 30 minutes. I also worried about being able to keep things in my head in between listening sessions. I re-read things a lot actually, to try and understand them, so an audio version might make that harder.
All in all, the format was decent. I listened while on the treadmill. I'm not rushing out to buy a bunch of audio books, but might get one if I ever have a long distance road trip that I'm making by myself. Maybe I'll explore this type of reading later, but on to the review.
I thought the book was really interesting. I like the title, "The Inevitable". There's a lot of uncertainty in the world today. No matter your political beliefs (I am on the left, in case you were wondering) this is a time where a lot is unknown. Kelly argues, not explicitly but through his title, that regardless of who is in power, these technological advances are happening. A smart move to use a title like this with a book that focuses on the future.
Kelley explores things like artificial intelligence. One of the most interesting things from that section is that when we design AI, we will want to make sure that it does not have a conscious. Kelly argues that we wouldn't want a medical AI wondering if it should have majored in finance. The goal will be to create AI's that are not exactly like us, but hyper-focused on a service.
One thing that I didn't really like about the book is that Kelley seemed very light on details to one main question: what will we do? He points out that the industrial revolution made a high percentage of jobs obsolete, and that we are on the verge of a similar event in human history. But, as to what will replace those jobs, Kelly hand waves it away, saying that there's no way of knowing what jobs there might be. I'm sure this is the case, but it wasn't reassuring.
That said, I don't know that Kelly was trying to reassure the reader. This is what is happening, your worries be damned. He doesn't come out and say that, but again, going back to the title, these are events that are going to happen.
I bring this up because at times when listening to this book, I felt we were headed to technology driven dystopia. When Kelly depicts services that will plan your day, from what you wear to how you get to work, I wondered where the space for critical thinking was in this society. As an educator, I wondered what sort of skills we would need to impart on students for them to navigate this world, but a lot seems to be done for you automatically.
But then, Kelly would describe things like having easier access to information, and I thought maybe the future would be alright. I rather liked the idea hyperlinked books that will lead to a true World Library. I especially liked the part where said library would fit into your bag.
Again, Kelly basically argues (not directly) that whether you like it or not, the future is coming and this is what he thinks it will look like. He did a good job of depicting in broad strokes what this world would look like, but it was missing some details that would have given me a better picture.
I give it 3.5/5 stars.
Now, on to item 2!
I'm doing the 2017 Reading Challenge from the blog Modern Mrs. Darcy. There are two to choose from. I'm doing both. I hope to use this blog as a way to talk about the books that I'm reading for the challenge and other thoughts.
Here's to a healthy and book filled 2017!
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