Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

"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."--Andrew Yang

"A clear, compelling strategy for surviving the next wave of technology with our jobs--and souls--intact."--Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

The machines are here. After decades of sci-fi fantasies and hype, artificial intelligence has leapt out of research labs and Silicon Valley engineering departments and into the center of our lives. Algorithms shape everything around us, from the news we see to the products we buy and the relationships we form. And while the debate over whether or not automation will destroy jobs rages on, a much more important question is being ignored:

What does it mean to be a human in a world that is increasingly built by and for machines?

In , technology columnist Kevin Roose lays out a hopeful, pragmatic vision of how people can succeed in the machine age by making themselves irreplaceably human. He shares the secrets of people and organizations that have survived technological change, and explains how we can protect our own futures, with lessons like

• Do work that is surprising, social, and scarce (the types of work machines can't do).
• Demote your phone.
• Work near other people.
• Treat A.I. like an army of chimpanzees.
• Add more friction to your life.

Roose rejects the conventional wisdom that in order to compete with machines, we have to become more like them--hyper-efficient, data-driven, code-writing workhorses. Instead, he says, we should let machines be machines, and focus on doing the kinds of creative, inspiring, and meaningful things only humans can do. Show more