Zero to One_ Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future ( PDFDrive )

MAN AND MACHINE
AS MATURE INDUSTRIES stagnate, information technology has advanced so rapidly that it
has now become synonymous with “technology” itself. Today, more than 1.5
billion people enjoy instant access to the world’s knowledge using pocket-sized
devices. Every one of today’s smartphones has thousands of times more
processing power than the computers that guided astronauts to the moon. And if
Moore’s law continues apace, tomorrow’s computers will be even more
powerful.
Computers already have enough power to outperform people in activities we
used to think of as distinctively human. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated
world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Jeopardy!’s best-ever contestant, Ken
Jennings, succumbed to IBM’s Watson in 2011. And Google’s self-driving cars
are already on California roads today. Dale Earnhardt Jr. needn’t feel threatened
by them, but the Guardian worries (on behalf of the millions of chauffeurs and
cabbies in the world) that self-driving cars “could drive the next wave of
unemployment.”
Everyone expects computers to do more in the future—so much more that
some wonder: 30 years from now, will there be anything left for people to do?
“Software is eating the world,” venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has
announced with a tone of inevitability. VC Andy Kessler sounds almost gleeful
when he explains that the best way to create productivity is “to get rid of
people.” Forbes captured a more anxious attitude when it asked readers: Will a
machine replace you?
Futurists can seem like they hope the answer is yes. Luddites are so worried
about being replaced that they would rather we stop building new technology
altogether. Neither side questions the premise that better computers will
necessarily replace human workers. But that premise is wrong: computers are
complements for humans, not substitutes. The most valuable businesses of
coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people
rather than try to make them obsolete.