Sean Culey's new book, Transition Point, begins with an examination into why human progress suddenly exploded in 18th Century Britain, rather than in larger, better placed or more culturally advanced civilisations. Culey explains why the societal structures and individual freedoms that developed in Britain allowed the population's innovative capabilities to flourish while the political structures that existed elsewhere held them back, and explains why our technologically driven progress is cyclical, not linear. Culey then explains why we are now in the transition point between the 5th and 6th technological waves, in a time the old and new co-exist, creating a society with one foot in the past and one in the future. This is a time of winners and losers, of people with capital and those with just labour. People with desired new wave skills and mindsets, and those with redundant old-wave ones.
In Part 2 of the book, Culey details the technological advancements contained in this new wave. Innovations capable of not just replacing jobs, but also capabilities such as vision, hearing and speech, creating a future where humans are no longer the cheapest or smartest workers around.
The 3rd and most substantial part of Transition Point examines the impact this new wave is going to have on the nature of business practices, on our scientific and technological advancement, on the economy and, most controversially, on society. It explains what actions are needed to prevent the economy from transforming into a nightmare of uncaring corporatism; a world where the wealth flows into the technocrats, establishment and capital owners, and the modern-day John Henry's are left behind, outperformed by AI systems, robots and algorithms that work for electricity and never take a break.
Transition Point also explains why, during this disruptive period, control is likely to be retained via the rolling back of the freedoms and liberties that made this period of progress possible in the first place. As China increasingly utilises technology to gamify life, creating a surveillance society designed to ensure its citizens comply with the rules passed down by their omnipresent government, the West will do likewise, only without the same level of openness and honesty.
ISBN: 9781789014853
Pages: 710
Trade paperback
Matador, 2019
Good condition
B38
