There are some books that you regret having read so late, but are also glad that they found you after all.
"Machine, Platform, Crowd" is one of those.
Thinkers with a capital letter, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson published it in 2017, anticipating many phenomena that have happened since publication.
In a way, reading this book now can be like reading messages from the past - it's amazing how they saw the future over 7 years ago, and even more amazing - how accurately they saw it in this fast-changing technological world. That said, it still remains relevant and not just an IT history book.
It is impossible to summarise this book in three or four main theses, because it is itself a quintessentially in-depth exploration of the balance and interaction of the main driving forces:
1) Machine and Mind
2) Platform and Product
3) Core and Crowd.
Ah, no! chatGPT can still do that :) As William Gibson said, "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed"
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The book explores the ways in which technology is transforming business and the economy. It is structured around three major forces:
Machines: The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and how these technologies are outperforming humans in various tasks.
Platforms: The shift from products to platforms, which connect users and resources in new and more efficient ways, exemplified by companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon.
Crowds: The increasing role of crowd-based solutions, leveraging collective intelligence and the power of the crowd in innovation and decision-making.
The authors argue that these three forces are reshaping traditional business models and offer insights into how organizations can adapt to thrive in this new environment.
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Marketing and Communications at Levain Bakery
9moCan’t imagine anything could rival cookies tbh