THE YEAR IN TECH 2021
Technology is moving at breakneck speed and the clock is ticking for each business that has not yet jumped on the bandwagon. 5G and biometric marketing, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, all of these buzzwords have suddenly become common business jargon and now each business must decide whether they want to ride the winds of change or push against them and get left behind. As business gets reshaped with respect to changing technological advancements, businesses face inertia from their older way of doing things while also looking at newer opportunities these advancements bring forth. This book, a part of the Harvard Business Review series, looks to deepen the reader’s understanding of the marvels of the new technological world so that the prospects (and the turbulence) it brings for businesses can be better understood. The book features some of HBR’s smartest analysis of up-and-coming issues and includes not just foundational introduction but also case studies, interviews, research and analysis to prepare any company for the newer, more technological business landscape of the future.
Published in September, 2020, the book has been jointly written by David Weinberger, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Darrell K. Rigby and David Furlonger. Weinberger is an American author and technologist, specializing in the internet and machine learning. Premuzic is an organizational psychologist who specializes in analytics, the interface between humans and AI and leadership development among other things. Rigby leads the Global Innovation and Agile practices at Bain & Company and Furlonger is a VP and Gartner Research Fellow who works with CEOs and senior leaders, focusing on his expertise as a futurist analyzing technological trends and their impact on society, etc.
The Future is Faster Than You Think
Written by bestselling authors and futurists Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, and published in January 2020, the book delves into all the expected but rapid technological disruptions in the next 10 years. Humanity is witness to the extraordinary speed at which technology is progressing and the writers foretell that the future will be wrought with far more upheavals and wealth creation than has been seen in the past century. The book is fast paced and engages readers by providing an astute understanding of what the very near future holds for our day to day lives and for the society collectively. The book prophesies the convergence of phenomena such as robotics and AI with 3D printing, blockchain and global gigabit networks and the transformations this extraordinary technological merger will give rise to, for the legacy industries of today. The writers believe the change will be all-encompassing from the way we raise children to the way we run the government and even care for the planet.
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation as well as a space entrepreneur, having founded many leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector. Steven Kotler is the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective and one of the world’s leading experts in human performance. He is also a New York Times Bestselling author and a stellar journalist.
My Robot Gets Me: How Social Design Can Make New Products More Human
Written by Carla Diana and published in March, 2021, My Robot Gets Me reminds us how acquainted we already are with the first few bot generations – Siri, Alexa and Roomba being household names. Where the writer predicts that the smart home market will hit more than a $100 billion mark within the next 5 years, she also claims that this is just the beginning of a truly revolutionary technological era and that these smart applications are about to become a lot smarter through ‘social design’. As new technology allows designers to add a more humane quality to bots subtly, the book provides some valuable insights and advice to whoever is interested and/or involved in this rapidly growing ‘smart marketplaces’, from those in the C-suite, to venture capitalists to product designers and developers.
Besides being an author, Carla Diana is also a designer and educator specializing in the impact of future technologies on society and otherwise. Carla has designed the 4D design program at Cranbrook Academy of Art and has enjoyed positions like Head of Program and the first Designer in Residence. She currently serves as the Head of Design for Diligent Robotics who create robots to help in healthcare settings.
Reprogramming the American Dream: from Rural America to Silicon Valley – Making AI Serve Us All
A riveting and engaging book that shines light on the wonders and opportunities of AI for people of all economic strata, Reprogramming the American Dream, published in April 2020, finds a middle ground for all those who were struggling in one way or another due to the arrival of artificial intelligence. The book recognizes the dilemma of the middle-income strata where AI is bulldozing jobs in thousands and shows them its potential to create opportunities where previously people saw only redundancy. It shows the future of AI and how it can be made to serve people. The writer, Kevin Scott, has seen both worlds – growing up in rural Virginia and then working as Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, he has had hands-on experience building AI applications while also witnessing their impact on workers. Scott admits that like any breakthrough technology, AI will cause quite a few earthquakes in the employment landscape. However, he feels that if the top tier prioritizes the designing of both future technology and public policy ahead of the age of the AI, and succeeds in building a universal understanding and collaboration on it and with it, we can make a servant out of AI yet.
Kevin Scott has held prestigious positions at both Google and LinkedIn before taking over the post of Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft. Co-author Greg Shaw hails from Bellevue, Washington and has been a supporter of policy and communication needs at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation for more than 25 years. He has also co-authored the book Hit Refresh Satya Nadella before this.
