How the autonomous digital forces jolting our lives – as uncontrollable as the weather and plate tectonics – are transforming life, society, culture, and politics.David Auerbach’s exploration of the phenomenon he has identified as the meganet begins with a simple, startling revelation: There is no hand on the tiller of some of the largest global digital forces that influence our daily lives: from corporate sites such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Instagram,...

How the autonomous digital forces jolting our lives – as uncontrollable as the weather and plate tectonics – are transforming life, society, culture, and politics.David Auerbach’s exploration of the phenomenon he has identified as the meganet begins with a simple, startling revelation: There is no hand on the tiller of some of the largest global digital forces that influence our daily lives: from corporate sites such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Instagram,...

‘Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas … The Status Game might be his best yet’ James Marriott, Books of the Year, The TimesWhat drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in groups? What makes you, you?For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. In

A New York Times Bestseller. A “fascinating” (Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times) look at how digital technology is transforming our work and our lives.In recent years, Google’s autonomous cars have logged thousands of miles on American highways and IBM’s Watson trounced the best human Jeopardy! players. Digital technologies—with hardware, software, and networks at their core—will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than ...

'This book has had an enormous impact'Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft'Spectacular. Mind-blowing in its expansiveness and profundity'Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple'Iconic'Clay Christensen, author of The Innovator's DilemmaCryptocurrencies are changing the world. They grant everyday people the power to invest, disrupt the world order and contribute towards a better future.

New and expanded edition.An International Bestseller - Over One Million Copies Sold!Shortlisted for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.Since Aristotle, we have fought to understand the causes behind everything. But this ideology is fading. In the age of big data, we can crunch an incomprehensible amount of information, providing us with invaluable insights about the what

The founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum on how the impending technological revolution will change our livesWe are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And this one will be unlike any other in human history.Characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact all disciplines, economies and industries - and it will do so at an unprecedented rate. ...

“A clear and crisply written account of machine intelligence, big data and the sharing economy. But McAfee and Brynjolfsson also wisely acknowledge the limitations of their futurology and avoid over-simplification.” —Financial TimesIn The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson predicted some of the far-reaching effects of digital technologies on our lives and businesses. Now they’ve written a guide to help readers make the most of...

From the authors of the fascinating The Age of Cryptocurrency, comes the definitive work on the Internet’s next big thing: the blockchain.Many of the ‘legacy systems’ once designed to make our lives easier and our economy more efficient are no longer up to the task; big banks have grown more entrenched, privacy exists only until the next hack, and credit card fraud has become a fact of life. However, there is a way past all this―a new kind of operating system with the potential to ...

The legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur examines how both business and government organizations can harness the power of disruptive technologies.Tom Siebel, the billionaire technologist and founder of Siebel Systems, discusses how four technologies—elastic cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things—are fundamentally changing how business and government will operate in the 21st century. While this profound and fast-moving transf...

As you read this, thousands of remote computers are refining secret models of who you are, using the information to make huge fortunes for a few people. Does the future have to be this way? How can we change it? In this visionary book Jaron Lanier imagines an alternative, where economic power is given back to creators. Drawing on sources ranging from ancient philosophy to the latest technology, he proposes a radical system that truly rewards endeavour - whether it's in the media or manufac...

An "intriguing, insightful" look at how algorithms and robots could lead to social unrest—and how to avoid it ( The Economist, Books of the Year).After decades of effort, researchers are finally cracking the code on artificial intelligence. Society stands on the cusp of unprecedented change, driven by advances in robotics, machine learning, and perception powering systems that rival or exceed human capabilities. Driverless cars, robotic helpers, and intell...