My Book Review

Brynjolfsson and McAfee talk about how the role of humans as the most important factor of production has diminished. They talk about the pace of technology and how it has sped up so much that it has left a lot of people behind. Computers are now doing many things that used to be the area of people only. The authors talk about productivity in terms of technology. “Productivity is the amount of output per unit of input. In particular, labor productivity can be measured as output per worker or output per hour worked. In the long run, productivity growth is almost the only thing that matters” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 29). Digital technologies are increasing productivity, but decreasing the amount of available jobs. Brynjolfsson and McAfee accurately show how this is happening in our society with the use of graphs and evidence.

The authors bring up a concept called Moore’s Law, which was mentioned in Pellow and Park’s article “The political economy of work and health in Silicon Valley.” “Moore’s Law is a prediction made by Intel founder Gordon Moore in 1968 that computer chips will double their speed and power every eighteen to twenty-four months” (Pellow & Park, 2002, p. 106). Brynjolfsson and McAfee also talk about a concept called the second half of the chessboard. They tell a short story about an emperor and a grain of rice. If you have a grain of rice on one square and double that grain for each subsequent square, you will end up with two to the sixty-four grains of rice. “This constant doubling, reflecting exponential growth, is deceptive because it is initially unremarkable, but then increases rapidly later on” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 19). This concept mimics technology and goes along with Moore’s Law. We are in an era of the second half of the chessboard, where technology is accelerating so rapidly. The authors effectively demonstrate how technological progress is increasing.

With this accelerating technology, the human component is just not needed. The authors talk about technological unemployment. “Technological unemployment means unemployment due to our discovery of means of economising the use of labour outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labour” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 28). “Digital technologies change rapidly, but organizations and skills aren’t keeping pace. As a result, millions of people are left behind” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 28). Michael Spence talks about this in his article “Information technology and the integration of the global economy.” Spence talks about how as soon as computers were networked and could do much of the required information processing and storage activities, the human element was unneeded. “The elimination of manual processing of information reduced labor, time, cost, and errors” (Spence, 2011, p. 229). Even though technological innovation is seen as a good thing, for many people it can be a problem. Brynjolfsson and McAfee successfully describe how technology is having an effect on jobs.

Brynjolfsson and McAfee also talk about high-skilled labor vs. low-skilled labor and incomes for these two. “Wages have increased for those with the most education, while falling for those with the least” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 40). Levy and Murnane talk about the wage gap in their article “How computers change work and play.” “College graduates have fared better than high school graduates in the changing U.S. labor market because they are more likely to have the skills needed to do the tasks that are part of high-wage jobs” (Levy & Murnane, 2004, p. 47). Those who graduate from college have a better chance of getting a job and a better chance of getting a high-paying job. Increased investments in education would decrease the wage gap, and people would have a better chance at finding a job. The authors have accurately described how higher education can benefit people in terms of finding a job and earning a greater income.

           Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have successfully provided the readers with a plethora of information about how technology is transforming employment and the economy. They have effectively convinced me that their thesis is correct. Through the use of graphs and concrete evidence, these authors have accurately described the issue that technology is hurting the job market. “We have to race with the machine, not against it” (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011, p. 55).