John Hagel: Rethinking Race Against the Machines

John Hagel says we have designed jobs in the US that tend to be “tightly scripted,” “highly standardized,” that leave no room for “individual initiative or creativity.” In short, these are the types of jobs that machines can perform much better at than human beings. That is how we have put a giant target sign on the backs of American workers, Hagel says. Transcript– “Race Against The Machine” is a very interesting book. It’s gotten a lot of popularity because it’s targeting an issue that is front and center for a lot of people in the United States and around the world, namely the issue of jobs creation and unemployment. Essentially, the thesis of the book — the authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee make the point that their goal is to introduce technology as a key engine of the changes that we’re looking at in terms of unemployment and job creation. So the book really focuses very heavily on the pace of technology innovation, at one level highlighting the exponential improvement in price and performance of technologies, but then focuses on the impact that has in terms of increasingly taking away jobs through automation, that more and more jobs, jobs that we thought were going to be immune from automation, are increasingly becoming vulnerable to automation because of the power of technology. At that level, I think it’s a very powerful book. Technology is advancing at a very rapid pace and it is becoming more and more able to take over activities that we, as humans …

The Jazzman is a journey through the life of John Kadly. From his early childhood and throughout his youth, to his romantic life and his struggles to fulfill his calling as a jazz drummer, The Jazzman examines the hardship that he faces while living in the shadow of his local jazz legend father. As John struggles to cope with the monotony of working construction and his dream to achieve success as a drummer, he meets a young social worker named Sara. He takes her to a local jazz club and talks his way into playing one tune to impress her, which then leads to his becoming the quartet’s regular drummer. Faced with many personal challenges along the way, John must learn the importance of family as he finds his way along the path that his father started to ultimately understand what life as ‘The Jazzman’ really means.
Video Rating: 0 / 5