Towards A Better Future
Kazim Rizvi
MAKE, THINK, IMAGINE: ENGINEERING THE FUTURE OF CIVILIZATION by John Browne Pegasus Books, 2019, 416 pp., $23.16
December 2019, volume 43, No 12

Browne urges the reader to believe in a better future at the beginning of his work. His lens of looking at engineering and technology allows one to have hope that technology will solve more problems rather than create bigger challenges, and the only determinant is pragmatism. He reiterates that we do not need to fall into binaries of pessimism and optimism, but believe that we can set up institutions which promote accountability and account for consequences. It highlights how inventions which were created painstakingly years ago and marketed as luxuries are now everyday household items for us. It is refreshing to see a book which doesn’t put down technology as apocalyptic, and readers do not have to be constantly marked with worry about how technology giants are trying to misuse their data. Inventions and engineering have been around since neolithic times, and our ideas are only as good as the use cases that we devise for them. One of the biggest concerns raised with the advancement of technology is the loss of jobs, and the disruption brought about in the marketspace. However, the book reassures the reader of the fact that one must think of such processes as akin to a transition and not a death sentence for the economy. The process of making and creating keeps our creativity alive and lets us apply our learning, be it open-source software which is equally accessible to all or 3D printing which is based on the principles of innovation developed by society over thousands of years.

Delving into the complexity of thought, Browne discusses how computers facilitate solutions to complex thought experiments—initially when personal computers permeated homes, people were worried that they would replace jobs. However, law is one profession where practitioners have actually enhanced their vocation with the creation of more opportunities. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the scope of problem-solving became even more vast—with machine learning being applied to the most granular areas of life. These advancements are likely to become bigger and better as the years roll by, entering into every sphere of life—medicine, education, military—there is no limit to the application of AI. However, the book remains true to empower the reader to face issues of ‘black boxes’—where algorithms remain opaque and users do not understand their functioning.

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