The Lights In The Tunnel
Subtitle: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2009
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
Description: A computer engineer from Silicon Valley employs a powerful thought experiment to explore the economy of the future. An imaginary "tunnel of lights" is used to visualize the economic implications of the new technologies that are likely to appear in the coming years and decades. Challenged are nearly all conventional views of the future and the danger that lies ahead if we do not plan for the impact of rapidly advancing technology is illuminated. It also offers unique insights into how technology will intertwine with globalization to shape the remainder of the 21st century, and explores ways in which the economic realities of the future might offer new approaches to addressing global challenges such as poverty and climate change.
Table of contents: title: Chapter 1: The Tunnel    7; title: The Mass Market  10; title: Visualizing the Mass Market   12; title: Automation Comes to the Tunnel   18; title: A Reality Check    21; title: Summarizing    25; title: Chapter 2: Acceleration     27; title: The Rich Get Richer   28; title: World Computational Capability   39; title: Grid and Cloud Computing    41; title: Meltdown    44; title: Diminishing Returns    47; title: Offshoring and Drive-Through Banking    55; title: Short Lived Jobs    57; title: Traditional Jobs: The “Average” Lights in the Tunnel   58; title: A Tale of Two Jobs    63; title: “Software” Jobs and Artificial Intelligence    67; title: Automation, Offshoring and Small Business    74; title: “Hardware” Jobs and Robotics    75; title: “Interface” Jobs    80; title: The Next “Killer App”    81; title: Military Robotics    85; title: Robotics and Offshoring    86; title: Nanotechnology and its Impact on Employment   87; title: The Future of College Education    90; title: Econometrics: Looking Backward    93; title: The Luddite Fallacy    95; title: A More Ambitious View of Future Technological Progress: The Singularity     100; title: A War on Technology     103; title: Chapter 3: Danger    107; title: The Predictive Nature of Markets   107; title: The 2008-2009 Recession    110; title: Offshoring and Factory Migration   113; title: Reconsidering Conventional Views About the Future    115; title: The China Fallacy    117; title: The Future of Manufacturing    124; title: India and Offshoring    127; title: Economic and National Security Implications for the United States     128; title: Solutions     131; title: Labor and Capital Intensive Industries: The Tipping Point    131; title: The Average Worker and the Average Machine     135; title: Capital Intensive Industries are “Free Riders”    138; title: The Problem with Payroll Taxes    140; title: The “Workerless” Payroll Tax    142; title: “Progressive” Wage Deductions    144; title: Defeating the Lobbyists    146; title: A More Conventional View of the Future    148; title: The Risk of Inaction    152; title: Chapter 4: Transition   156; title: The Basis of the Free Market Economy: Incentives    158; title: Preserving the Market   159; title: Recapturing Wages   162; title: Positive Aspects of Jobs    168; title: The Power of Inequality    169; title: Where the Free Market Fails: Externalities   170; title: Creating a Virtual Job    172; title: Smoothing the Business Cycle and Reducing Economic Risk  178; title: The Market Economy of the Future    179; title: An International View   182; title: Transitioning to the New Model    184; title: Keynesian Grandchildren   188; title: Transition in the Tunnel   191; title: Chapter 5: The Green Light    193; title: Attacking Poverty    195; title: Fundamental Economic Constraints    200; title: Removing the Constraints    201; title: The Evolution Toward Consumption    203; title: The Green Light   206; title: Appendix / Final Thoughts    208; title: Are the ideas presented in this book WRONG?  (Opposing arguments with responses)     209; title: Two Questions Worth Thinking About   222; title: Where are we now? Four Possible Cases   223; title: The Next 10-20 years: Some Indicators to Watch for    226; title: Outsmarting Marx   236; title: The Technology Paradox   238; title: Machine Intelligence and the Turing Test    240; title: About / Contacting the Author     245; title: Notes      246