Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

About the Book

A New York Times bestselling author and tech columnist's counter-intuitive guide to staying relevant - and employable - in the machine age by becoming irreplaceably human.

It's not a future scenario any more. We've been taught that to compete with automation and AI, we'll have to become more like the machines themselves, building up technical skills like coding. But, there's simply no way to keep up. What if all the advice is wrong? And what do we need to do instead to become futureproof?

We tend to think of automation as a blue-collar phenomenon that will affect truck drivers, factory workers, and other people with repetitive manual jobs. But it's much, much broader than that. Lawyers are being automated out of existence. Last year, JPMorgan Chase built a piece of software called COIN, which uses machine learning to review complicated contracts and documents. It used to take the firm's lawyers more than 300,000 hours every year to review all of those documents. Now, it takes a few seconds, and requires just one human to run the program. Doctors are being automated out of existence, too. Last summer, a Chinese tech company built a deep learning algorithm that diagnosed brain cancer and other diseases faster and more accurately than a team of 15 top Chinese doctors.

Kevin Roose has spent the past few years studying the question of how people, communities, and organisations adapt to periods of change, from the Industrial Revolution to the present. And the insight that is sweeping through Silicon Valley as we speak -- that in an age dominated by machines, it's human skills that really matter - is one of the more profound and counter-intuitive ideas he's discovered. It's the antidote to the doom-and-gloom worries many people feel when they think about AI and automation. And it's something everyone needs to hear.

In nine accessible, prescriptive chapters, Roose distills what he has learned about how we will survive the future, that the way to become futureproof is to become incredibly, irreplaceably human.

About the Author :
Kevin Roose is a technology columnist for The New York Times and a writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. He is the New York Times bestselling author of two books, Young Money and The Unlikely Disciple. He has been named in Forbes' "30 Under 30" and his work has been featured in The Best Business Writing, GQ, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and other publications. He lives in Brooklyn.

Review :

A concise, insightful and sophisticated guide to maintaining humane values in an age of new machines

While we need to rewrite the rules of the twenty-first-century economy, Kevin's book is a great look at how people can do this on a personal level to always put humanity first Lightly written and engaging Kevin Roose provides a clear, compelling strategy for surviving the next wave of technology with our jobs - and souls - intact... Futureproof is the survival guide you need. AI will be a far bigger game changer for the world than COVID-19. And unless we start thinking and planning for it far more seriously now, we will be in even greater peril. Futureproof is a brilliant book that explains what we need to do, all of us, right now Roose offers an upbeat, practical guide for dealing with "a world that is increasingly arranged by and for machines" . . . Helpful advice to quell workers' anxiety PRAISE FOR YOUNG MONEY - If Kevin Roose's finely crafted Young Money does not scare you straight about the life of a young financial analyst on Wall Street, it can't be done. Roose's frolic through Wall Street's playpen is a must-read. Despite all the press about Wall Street, the stories that don't usually get told are those of the recent college graduates who clamour for the chance to work 100 hour plus weeks at the big banks. Kevin Roose's new book, which follows a handful of analysts through the trials and tribulations of their early years on the Street, is a thoughtful exploration of their motivations and their experiences - and it's a great read. A cautionary true-life tale, Young Money should be required reading for every college student who is contemplating a job on Wall Street. As for the rest of us, who remember Wall Street before 2008, Kevin Roose has provided a great window into how that world has changed-and how it hasn't. Highly entertaining and impressive ...Roose's captivating read is sure to appeal to readers young and old who are interested in the zeitgeist of Wall Street since the crash [Young Money] offers a compelling glimpse of Wall Street in the post-2008 recession era...thought provoking, excellent book The young people who have flocked to Wall Street are often badly used, caught up in power struggles among middle management and little appreciated ... [Young Money] captures the daily indignities to which the junior capitalists are subjected