Reading experience of "Machines, Platforms, Crowds: How to Control Our Digital Future": A Survival Guide to Embracing the Future

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When it comes to hope, some people hope to pursue career success, while others seek family harmony or physical health. When it comes to the outlook for future technology, many people will unconsciously talk about technological applications that are currently in the spotlight, such as drones, blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data or the Internet of Things.

If we try to use three keywords to summarize the evolution of the digital age, they happen to be machines, platforms, and the masses. And these three keywords happen to be what Andrew McPhee and Eric Brynjolfson, two professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, mentioned in their latest book “[Machines, Platforms, Crowds: How to Control Our Digital Future] (https://www.eslite.com/product/1001122732647479)” that everyone must face up to.

——Rethink the balance between human brains and machines, between products and platforms, and between the core and the masses.

Although many years have passed, many people still cannot accept that Google The computer Go software [AlphaGo] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaGo) developed by DeepMind was actually able to defeat the popular Korean professional Go player [Lee Sedol] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%8E%E4%B8%96%E4%B9%AD) with four wins and one loss.

In the match on May 23, 2017, AlphaGo continued to defeat the 19-year-old Chinese chess champion [Ke Jie], who is ranked first in the world (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9F%AF%E6%B4%81). Lee Sedol, who watched the game in person, gave this comment, “When AlphaGo has a good rhythm, it is really difficult to beat.”

Machines are not as easily affected by emotions as humans, and artificial intelligence has obvious advantages in processing and interpreting large amounts of information. Some people are beginning to expect that artificial intelligence can help save time and handle many tedious tasks on their behalf, but more people are beginning to panic, worried that artificial intelligence will put their jobs in jeopardy?

When it comes to platform, this is probably a keyword that many entrepreneurs have often talked about in recent years! In the past, when I was working in the media, I interviewed many start-up teams. Almost every ambitious entrepreneur told me that they wanted to build a certain platform.

The advantages of Platform are obvious. It can not only change the cost structure, but also provide a matching mechanism for both supply and demand parties. Therefore, after the advent of different types of platforms such as Uber and Airbnb, they not only brought people incomparable convenience and shock, but also began to subvert the operation of many traditional business logics.

Take China’s Didi Taxi as an example. Although it has solved the problem of difficulty in hailing taxis on the roadside in metropolitan areas, it has also created new problems - for example, when the weather is bad, many drivers will be unwilling to take rides due to insufficient incentives if no additional incentives are provided.

As for the power of the masses, it is also obvious. For example, in the field of mass communication, there used to be the so-called “[the right of access to the media](https://ref.ncl.edu.tw/disciplinary expert consultation platform/knowledge sharing circle-article/review article/1592-)” (the right of access to the media), which refers to the fact that ordinary people can request the media to provide space or time under certain conditions to allow them to exercise their right to express opinions, so as to promote the accuracy and fairness of media reports or comments.

Mass media is indeed the main source of information for the public, and it is also the best tool to guide and create public opinion. However, with the advancement of technology, people no longer need to rely on “media access rights” to protect their voice channels. Many people have begun to set up blogs (https://www.vistacheng.com/2023/06/content-marketing-strategy-guide.html), run fan pages or break news on Facebook, and convey their opinions to the public through various self-media.

And things like Wikipedia or open source are also the beautiful new world created by the collective efforts of this group of people from all over the world who have automatically gathered from the Internet. The masses begin to shake the core of tradition, and smart organizations are good at harnessing the power of the masses.

Machines, platforms, and the masses represent three different aspects of the digital revolution. If you have ever read “Race with the Machine” and “The Second Machine Age” co-authored by Andrew McPhee and Eric Brynjolfson rce=vista&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-201801)”, then this time you must not miss the new book “Machines, Platforms, Crowds: How to Control Our Digital Future” brought by the two of them.

After reading this book, we can look at the evolution of the world with a cautious, optimistic attitude and a broad and open perspective, and find the way to survive from it.

★ Featured image credit: Bekir Dönmez

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Further reading

• Reading experience of “AI Marketing”: The road to corporate transformation starts with creating omni-channel marketing
• Reading experience of “Winning in the AI Era: Secrets of Marketing Yourself”: Creating a Unique and Critical Value Proposition

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