The coauthors of the seminal book The Virtual Corporation describe
how the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual environments are
ushering in an epic cultural transformation--and how we can thrive in
this new era.
We are at the dawn of the Autonomous Revolution, a turning point in
human history as decisive as the Agricultural and Industrial
Revolutions. More and more, AI-based machines are replacing human
beings, and online environments are gathering our data and using it to
manipulate us. This loss of human autonomy amounts to nothing less than
a societal phase change, a fundamental paradigm shift. The same
institutions will remain--schools, banks, churches, and
corporations--but they will radically change form, obey new rules, and
use new tools.
William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone go deeply into the enormous
implications of these developments. They show why increases in
productivity no longer translate into increases in the GDP and how zero
cost, one-to-many communications have been turned into tools for
cybercrime and propaganda. Many of the book's recommendations--such as
using taxes to control irresponsible internet behavior and enabling
people to put their data into what are essentially virtual personal
information safety deposit boxes--are bold and visionary, but we must
figure out how we will deal with these emerging challenges now, before
the Autonomous Revolution overcomes us.
