HUMANS ARE UNDERRATED BY GEOFF COLVIN

BOOK REVIEWS BY BINOD

BINOD’S RATING: 8/10

There is a lot of fear and uncertainty as to how replaceable humans will be in the age of AI, robots etc. One school of thought predicts that it is only a matter of time before computers master every skill.

Colvin goes the other way. His point is that we humans are first social beings. That’s how we survived and grew and hence that’s why we can still remain relevant. Because even if a computer is smarter, faster, cheaper etc., in certain situations like in health care and law, humans will still prefer to deal with other humans and not a computer and this will have increasing value. We have passed the era of Execution (the industrial economy) and Expertise (the knowledge economy) and we are now in the new era of Empathy. 

But there are some big issues. Thanks to social media, and especially in developed countries, empathy seems to be declining and people are becoming more narcissistic. Plus, it’s tougher to build empathy in adults compared to kids. However true empathy is a skill not a trait and it can be learnt. 

The other interesting point Colvin makes is that it is fast becoming a woman’s world. Men are Systemizers (i.e. figuring out how it works) and women are Empathizers (figuring out the mental state of another person and the appropriate response), systemizing is exactly what technology is taking over and it’s a woman’s brain that is far more suitable in a world that values interpersonal skills. 

Overall, the key is not to try and out match computers because that is a game we WILL lose. The key is to focus on what we humans do best.