Is a network -- whether a crowd or blockchain-based entity -- going to replace the firm anytime soon? Not yet, argue Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson in the new book Machine, Platform, Crowd. But that title is a bit misleading, because the real questions most companies and people wrestle with are more "machine vs. mind", "platform vs. product", and "crowd vs. core". They're really a set of dichotomies. Yet the most successful systems are rarely all one or all the other. So how then do companies make choices, tradeoffs in designing products between humans and machines, whether it's sales people vs. chatbots, or doctors vs. AIs? How can companies combine the fundamental building blocks of businesses -- such as network effects, platforms, crowds, and more -- in a way that lets them get ahead on the chessboard against the Red Queen? And then finally, at a macro level, how do we plan for the future without falling for the "fatal conceit" (which has now, arguably flipped from radical centralization to radical decentralization) ... and just run a ton of experiments to get there? We (Frank Chen and Sonal Chokshi) discuss all this and more with Brynjolfsson and McAfee, who also founded MIT's Initiative on the Global Economy -- and previously wrote the popular The Second Machine Age and Race Against the Machine. Maybe there's a better way to stay ahead without having to run faster and faster just to stay in place like Alice in a tech Wonderland.
Erik Brynjolfsson is an economist at Stanford. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Vincero: https://vincerowatches.com/lex to get up to 25% off + free shipping - Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free - Cash App: https://cash.app/ and use code LexPodcast to get $10 EPISODE LINKS: Erik's Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikbryn Erik's Website: https://www.brynjolfsson.com/ The Second Machine Age (book): https://amzn.to/33f1Pk2 Machine, Platform, Crowd (book): https://amzn.to/3miJZ76 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 2:56 - Exponential growth 7:24 - Elon Musk exponential thinking 9:41 - Moore's law is a series of revolutions 15:03 - GPT-3 16:42 - Autonomous vehicles 23:43 - Electricity 28:12 - Productivity 33:19 - Why is Twitter and Facebook free? 43:36 - Dismantling the nature of truth 46:56 - Nutpicking and Cancel Culture 53:11 - How will AI change our world 59:12 - Existential threats 1:01:05 - AI and the nature of work 1:07:11 - Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI 1:13:03 - Economics of innovation 1:19:09 - Effect of COVID on the economy 1:28:22 - MIT and Stanford 1:32:56 - Book recommendations 1:36:01 - Meaning of life CONNECT: - Subscribe to this YouTube channel - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LexFridmanPage - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman