Our Skynet moment

Tim OReilly draws on lessons from networked platforms to show how our economy and financial markets have also become increasingly managed by algorithms, making the case that income inequality, declining upward mobility, and job losses due to technology are not inevitable; they are the result of design choices we have made in the algorithms that manage our markets.

A world ruled by machines that are hostile to humanity is not a distant possibility. Complex systems evolve from much simpler forebears, and the design of the systems we are building today is already shaping the future of truly intelligent machines. We are in a defining period of the struggle for human freedom. Tim O’Reilly draws on lessons from networked platforms such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft to show how our economy and financial markets have also become increasingly managed by algorithms, making the case that income inequality, declining upward mobility, and job losses due to technology are not inevitable; they are the result of design choices we have made in the algorithms that manage our markets. Just as Google constantly updates its algorithms in pursuit of relevant search and ad results and as Facebook wrestles with how to rethink its algorithms for user engagement in response to fake news, we must rewrite the algorithms that shape our economy if we wish to create a more human-centered future. Tim’s new book, WTF? What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us will be published by Harper Business on October 10, 2017. Pre-order now