Augmented

Life in the Smart Lane

By: Brett King, Andy Lark, Alex Lightman, JP Rangaswami

Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen

Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

The Internet and smartphone are just the latest in a 250-year-long cycle of disruption that has continuously changed the way we live, the way we work, and the way we interact. The coming Augmented Age, however, promises a level of disruption, behavioral shifts, and changes that are unparalleled. While consumers today are camping outside of an Apple store waiting to be one of the first to score a new Apple Watch or iPhone, the next generation of wearables will be able to predict if we're likely to have a heart attack and recommend a course of action. We watch news of Google's self-driving cars, but don't likely realize this means progressive cities will have to ban human drivers in the next decade because us humans are too risky. Following on from the Industrial or Machine Age, the Space Age and the Digital Age, the Augmented Age will be based on four key disruptive themes - Artificial Intelligence, Experience Design, Smart Infrastructure, and HealthTech. Historically, the previous "ages" brought significant disruption and changes, but on a net basis, jobs were created, wealth was enhanced, and the health and security of society improved. What will the Augmented Age bring? Will robots take our jobs and AI's subsume us as inferior intelligences? Or will this usher in a new age of abundance?

Augmented is a book on future history, but, more than that, it is a story about how you will live your life in a world that will change more in the next 20 years than it has in the last 250 years. Are you ready to adapt? Because if history proves anything, you don't have much of a choice.

©2016 Brett King (P)2017 Tantor

Focus on the average or below reviews

The reader did not seem interested in the material. The material itself seemed very narrow in scope and presented the future as if there would be no other jobs outside of tech or occupations that would be replaced by AI
Don’t get me wrong, a good bit of it is accurate, but it presents itself as the definitive guide to the future lives and occupations. It ignores millennials, primary education, as well as the disruption AI will have on non traditional employment such as content creators. The material also doesn’t take into account the exponential development of AI and it learns faster than any human, it will surpass expectations.
Very hypothetical and not worth a read.

A must read

This needs to mandatory reading for every High School student and anyone else who wants to be part of the upcoming revolutionary wave in our new world culture.

Hypnotizing

It's a fairly good summary of prognostications of the time of writing. But, the reading tone is sooooooo way-cool california breezy laid back with a constant sense of suspense ... with hardly a slight breath or pause for the whole mind-bending 12 hours of 'this is really really cool' and 'this is really happening' and this is what is going to kill this or that industry and we arent even going to break a segue or anything just keep on going and going. This book should really be read online, with links to the multitudes of references, and all the visual graphs contributing.
In the ultimate, augmented really speaks of the interweaving of our entire existence into virtual worlds, social networks, commerce networks, health networks ... war networks. It does not, of course, speak of the world past the singularity, since we have no possible idea of what that will entail (thus summarized Superintelligence and 'Our Final Invention'). Thus, the key take-away is the summary of competing technologies, market drivers and disruption effects. This really needs a rigorous study by real economists who can predict the impacts in stages, and guide policymakers in keeping society from disintegrating.

Author is out of touch

This is an interesting read but is obviously written by someone who is an outsider to the AI and ML industry. He delivers many of the facts accurately but his interpretation of intent for companies like Amazon and Microsoft is way off at times. Everything is good until he starts pretending to understand the reason that these companies do what they do and how they are doing it.

I bought this book to listen to a celebration of where AI is going and what is coming next for humanity. I was disappointed to find that most of the book is just his interpretation of computing history followed by doom and gloom predictions where AI and ML are the evil behind everything.

If you are looking for a book that will tell you the wonders that are coming next, this is not the book for you. If you want a history of technology, it may be.

Worth it

this book changed my mind about the new technologies and it's application. I realized that had feared more the negative effect of new technologies but neglected most of the benefits. I think it Worth the time and the cost/subscription.

What a disappointment!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No I would not. This book was to make believe and fairy tale - ish. The book tries to quote "Moore's" law as fact and it's nothing more than an opinion that has been proven incorrect for the last several years in a row.

What could the authors have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I'm good with speculating what we can augment in our day to day lives with technology but I don't like scare tactic's nor false data. I also don't like how the book states what the Internet can and can't do when today the Internet is turning into a dump. Darpa should have never released so much control of the Internet. There is sooooooo much front loading of websites it pathetic. And for ISP's to falsely say we need more and more bandwidth is just irresponsible.

What aspect of Steven Jay Cohen’s performance would you have changed?

His whole conspiracy theory voice drove me nut's! Especially when he's pushing unknown facts. I wish they would have had someone narrate the book who spoke in a normal voice. His whisper just made the book sound like a make believe journey or something.

Do you think Augmented needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes absolutely. Website frontloading need's to be addressed. So many people have no idea what I'm talking about. They naively think when they type in www.whatever.com that they're going straight to that website. Sheez what a joke, today on average over 200 things get loaded down through your web-browser before you ever get to the website.

We also need to prosecute companies that get hacked. Experian is in the news currently. I'm sorry but their executive team needs to go, this is their 2nd or 3rd hack in so many years. You cannot tell me that their IT staff hasn't been warning them and they took the risk. Well they need to be held accountable.

Any additional comments?

Yes, please push for a browser that can dump front loading, data tracking, etc. Let it be easily user configurable. Explain the "dark web" to folks, explain TOR and the like.

Younger Audience

After quarantine boredom struck, I asked my dad what I should do and he said “Get audible and I’ll send you a few books”. This was the first one he sent me because it’s one of his absolute favorites. I’m 19 years old and would say I fairly enjoyed the book. Lots of outstanding facts and possible perspectives on what is coming in our near future. Found it a bit hard to get deep into the book but that may be because of my age and understanding of lots of the references. Great job!

Lots of examples

Not sure how I really feel about this book. It have A LOT of examples on how technology will intertwine with daily life in the future. I appreciate that. But it was almost as if the whole book was put together from thousands of news articles. The audible version was also read in a way that was rather uninspiring.

great book on future trends

lots of ground is covered and there is a great amount of detail. AI, blockchain, robots, and many other topics are addressed. quite a good futurism book.

Very Unbalanced

Brett loves technology and therefore there is little or no mention of its downside and the extraordinary human misery it will create along side its benefits. Therefore Brett is knowledgeable and intelligent but not wise. I do look forward to books about the future that will be written by AI. They would clearly be better and more prescient than Brett. Bye bye Brett. You had better hope that there is a universal monthly allowance distributed by the government.