Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c79IR // #c79Verbatim excerpt
Technology creates possibilities and potential, but ultimately, the future we get will depend on the choices we make.

— Source: The Second Machine Age (Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee)

[Use when]

When the AI future is framed as inevitable.

[Why it matters]

The closing rejection of technological determinism: the second machine age hands us vastly more power to change the world, and with it the responsibility to choose what kind of world — bounty shared or disaster.

More from The Second Machine Age

#c66In other words, things get weird in the second half of the chessboard. And like the emperor, most of us have trouble keeping up.When someone projects a technology trend in a straight line. #c67U.S. businesses entered the second half of the chessboard when it comes to the use of digital gear. That was in 2006.When dating when the AI economy actually began. #c68Bounty is the increase in volume, variety, and quality and the decrease in cost of the many offerings brought on by modern technological…When the AI debate goes all-doom.