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  • The Exponential Age

  • How Accelerating Technology Is Transforming Business, Politics, and Society
  • Written by: Azeem Azhar
  • Narrated by: Azeem Azhar
  • Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

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The Exponential Age

Written by: Azeem Azhar
Narrated by: Azeem Azhar
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Publisher's Summary

From Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the global tech podcast Exponential View, comes a bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data - and our ability to deal with its effects

We are living in the first exponential age. 

High-tech innovations are created at a dazzling speed; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace. 

Azeem Azhar knows this better than most. Over the last three decades, he has founded companies bought by Amazon and Microsoft, served as the Economist’s first ever internet correspondent, and created a leading international tech newsletter and podcast, the Exponential View.

Now, Azhar offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology - especially that of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Spotify - is changing the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an “exponential gap”, in which technological changes rapidly outpace our society’s ability to catch up with them. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time - from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and big data. And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from destroying our societies. 

The result is a wholly new way to think about technology. It will transform your understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.

©2021 Azeem Azhar (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about The Exponential Age

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

excellent review of where we going through

where are we going through and where we are heading to based on current stage of technology, the stage has been set and explained, so one is able to imagine where we are possibly heading to

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Superficial overview

The book covers ideas already (and more comprehensively) covered more than a decade ago (Wikinomics, 4th Industrial Age) Only useful for people that haven’t been paying attention at all, like out of touch executives. If you are interested in the topic, you probably know everything in this book. I’d suggest going through the stratechery blog archives before buying this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

must read for law makers

hopefully people in positions of power can help to implement his policies to make exponential technologies work for the common good

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent. Thought provoking. Action worthy

This was really enjoyable.

The story is about all of our history and how technology changes us. We can allow change to happen to us, or we can make change more aligned with what we want.

It does focus on big tech. While these behemoths do offer tools - they can be good or bad.

Data collected - good or bad. It is not that cut and dry.

The failure of government (and us) to keep up with what is going on has always been an issue.

Take a listen...time well spent.

Reading style was excellent - easy to understand, good cadence and clear.

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