100 books like The Technology Trap

By Carl Benedikt Frey,

Here are 100 books that The Technology Trap fans have personally recommended if you like The Technology Trap. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Karl Lillrud Author Of AI Your Second Brain: Evolve or Go Extinct

From my list on teach you to embrace the future.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have for 28 years helped organizations around the world scale their business. I'm a dedicated innovator and thought leader in artificial intelligence and digital commerce. My passion for innovation thrives in exploring how AI can transform businesses and improve lives. I've authored 10 books and shared my insights as a professional speaker to educate, inspire, and motivate others. I love delving into the future of AI and innovation, which drives me to constantly learn and share knowledge. This list reflects the books that have significantly influenced my journey. My life is about pushing forward, always looking for alternatives to understand where those paths might lead us.

Karl's book list on teach you to embrace the future

Karl Lillrud Why did Karl love this book?

I was captivated by this book because it offers a profound exploration of AI's future impact on humanity. Max Tegmark pushes the boundaries of how we think about consciousness, identity, and the ethical implications of AI.

I love how the book stimulates deep reflection on our role in shaping AI's development. It inspired me to consider not just the technological advancements but also the societal responsibilities we hold.

By Max Tegmark,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Life 3.0 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark's thought-provoking book will help you join it' Stephen Hawking

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER. DAILY TELEGRAPH AND THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR
SELECTED AS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2018

AI is the future - but what will that future look like? Will superhuman intelligence be our slave, or become our god?

Taking us to the heart of the latest thinking about AI, Max Tegmark, the MIT professor whose work has helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial, separates myths from reality, utopias from dystopias, to…


Book cover of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

Daniel M. Gerstein Author Of Tech Wars: Transforming U.S. Technology Development

From my list on understanding current tech war future of humanity.

Why am I passionate about this?

Everyone uses technology, but few stop to think about where these technologies come from and what this trajectory means to humanity. During my professional career, I have dedicated myself to public service focused on security and defense as a U.S. Army officer, senior government civilian, and in think tanks, industry, and academia. My journey has taken me to over 60 countries where I have witnessed humankind's best and worst. The difference is often in how our technologies are used—to build cities, feed populations, and develop life-saving vaccines or to oppress peoples or as tools of war. 

Daniel's book list on understanding current tech war future of humanity

Daniel M. Gerstein Why did Daniel love this book?

Extraordinary book that has tapped into the most important hardware of the AI revolution and will be foundational in the emerging Age of Augmented Humanity. This book provides the detail that allows the reader to understand the history and current state of global semiconductor design and the manufacturing community.

It also lays out in exquisite detail the importance of the technology in the future and how it needs to be protected. In no small measure, the book was instrumental in highlighting the importance of semiconductors in todays’ digital world. 

By Chris Miller,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Chip War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

***Winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award***

'Pulse quickening. A nonfiction thriller - equal parts The China Syndrome and Mission Impossible' New York Times

An epic account of the decades-long battle to control the world's most critical resource-microchip technology

Power in the modern world - military, economic, geopolitical - is built on a foundation of computer chips. America has maintained its lead as a superpower because it has dominated advances in computer chips and all the technology that chips have enabled. (Virtually everything runs on chips: cars, phones, the stock market, even the electric grid.) Now…


Book cover of The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future

Darren McKee Author Of Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the Race to Save the World

From my list on understanding how AI will shape our lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an author, advisor, speaker, podcaster, and citizen concerned about humanity’s relationship with advanced artificial intelligence. After following developments in AI for many years, I noticed a disconnect between the rapid rate of progress in AI and the public’s understanding of what was happening. The AI issue affects everyone, so I want everyone to be empowered to learn more about how AI will have a large impact on their lives. As a senior policy advisor and a member of the Board of Advisors for Canada's leading safety and governance network, books such as these help me stay informed about the latest developments in advanced artificial intelligence. I hope my recommendations will help you to critically consider how humans should co-exist with this revolutionary technology.

Darren's book list on understanding how AI will shape our lives

Darren McKee Why did Darren love this book?

AI algorithms are increasingly used to decide what you see, if you’re hired, and who you match with socially or romantically.

There is much cause for concern because many of these algorithms are biased and return responses that indicate some degree of sexism or racism.

The main value of this book is that all those issues are recognized, but so is the notion that when an algorithm is biased, it is much easier to discover that and correct it than with a person.

Consequently, reforming algorithms likely presents a better option to reduce bias when people or things are sorted or assessed.

By Orly Lobel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Equality Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Much has been written about the challenges tech presents to equality and democracy. But we can either criticize big data and automation or steer it to do better. Lobel makes a compelling argument that while we cannot stop technological development, we can direct its course according to our most fundamental values.

With provocative insights in every chapter, Lobel masterfully shows that digital technology frequently has a comparative advantage over humans in detecting discrimination, correcting historical exclusions, subverting long-standing stereotypes, and addressing the world's thorniest problems: climate, poverty, injustice, literacy, accessibility, speech, health, and safety.

Lobel's vivid examples-from labor markets to…


Book cover of Ethical Machines: Your Concise Guide to Totally Unbiased, Transparent, and Respectful AI

Darren McKee Author Of Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the Race to Save the World

From my list on understanding how AI will shape our lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an author, advisor, speaker, podcaster, and citizen concerned about humanity’s relationship with advanced artificial intelligence. After following developments in AI for many years, I noticed a disconnect between the rapid rate of progress in AI and the public’s understanding of what was happening. The AI issue affects everyone, so I want everyone to be empowered to learn more about how AI will have a large impact on their lives. As a senior policy advisor and a member of the Board of Advisors for Canada's leading safety and governance network, books such as these help me stay informed about the latest developments in advanced artificial intelligence. I hope my recommendations will help you to critically consider how humans should co-exist with this revolutionary technology.

Darren's book list on understanding how AI will shape our lives

Darren McKee Why did Darren love this book?

AI continues to be further integrated into our professional lives, and this is a great introductory book for those in business or the public sector to consider the ethical implications of using various AI systems.

It nicely introduces key concepts and provides step-by-step instructions for thinking about and having ethical AI standards, processes, and metrics.

Broadly, it is a call for the importance of ethics in decision-making and business processes and does well to offer guidance in this age of AI.

By Reid Blackman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ethical Machines as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What will you do when your AI misbehaves?

The promise of artificial intelligence is automated decision-making at scale, but that means AI also automates risk at scale. Are you prepared for that risk?

Already, many companies have suffered real damage when their algorithms led to discriminatory, privacy-invading, and even deadly outcomes. Self-driving cars have hit pedestrians; HR algorithms have precluded women from job searches; mortgage systems have denied loans to qualified minorities. And often the companies who deployed the AI couldn't explain why the black box made the decision it did.

In this environment, AI ethics isn't merely an academic…


Book cover of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

Gemma Milne Author Of Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It

From my list on navigate technology hype.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve worked in and around the tech, science and startup world for the past 10 years, and hype has played various roles in my work and life. From working in advertising where my job was to build narratives around ideas and products, then in journalism where I was tasked with sorting hype from reality when deciding who and what to write about, to now being a researcher who looks into the very nature and power of narratives, ideologies, political economies and cultures around science and technology – hype has been a recurring topic which is so important in understanding and navigating the tech industry. I hope you find these books as enlightening as I have!

Gemma's book list on navigate technology hype

Gemma Milne Why did Gemma love this book?

I love how this book has been part of a resurgence of interest in the Luddites and has helped recontextualize the history. It really has punctured the hype around the idea that the Luddites were anti-tech – the book so brilliantly lays out the very fact that this important piece of hype-busting has been needed for some time for us to really come to terms with technology in today’s society.

It’s also just brilliant historical story-telling, and it’s written with fervour, which I always like in a book.

By Brian Merchant,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blood in the Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year

The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods.

The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines-on punishment of death-and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought nineteenth-century England to its knees.

Today, technology imperils millions of…


Book cover of Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age

Gareth Southwell Author Of MUNKi

From my list on why we should rise up against our robot overlords.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a philosopher, writer, and illustrator from Wales, UK. I grew up on ’70s sci-fi—Star Wars (the original trilogy!), Battlestar Galactica (the original series!), The Black Hole (Remember that?! No? Oh well…). Space travel, flying cars, sassy computers you could banter with, cute robots who would be your best friend—it was a time when the future seemed just around the corner. But now, as these things finally start to arrive, I feel I’ve been mis-sold. Data theft? Mass surveillance? Killer drones? Election manipulation? Social media bot farms? This isn’t the future I signed up for! Or maybe I should have read the terms and conditions…

Gareth's book list on why we should rise up against our robot overlords

Gareth Southwell Why did Gareth love this book?

But can you fight the future? Isn’t it inevitable? This is often how tech companies try to make us think, and that anyone who opposes “progress” is a Luddite. But, as Patrick Sale makes clear in this excellent and heartbreaking historical study, the original Luddites—a protest movement that swept the industrial heartland of 19th Century England—were not anti-technology; they merely thought technology should serve people, not profit. Faced with the destruction of their livelihoods and their traditional way of life, they destroyed machines and burnt factories because that was the only outlet they had for their rage and desperation. And when the “inevitable march of progress” comes to trample you too, you may see that they had a point.

By Kirkpatrick Sale,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rebels Against the Future as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kirkpatrick Sale is at the tumultuous centre of a technology backlash, actively challenging Bill Gates on the one hand and the Unabomber on the other. The subject of bets, barbs, and grudging praise in the pages of WIRED, The New York Times, Newsweek, and The New Yorker, Rebels Against the Future takes us back to the first technology backlash, the short-lived and fierce Luddite rebellion of 1811. Sale tells the compelling story of the Luddites'struggle to preserve their jobs and way of life by destroying the machines that threatened to replace them he then invokes a new-Luddite spirit in response…


Book cover of The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Miya Knights Author Of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce

From my list on for winning with the modern consumer.

Why am I passionate about this?

Having managed to convert a passion for shopping and curiosity about digital technologies into a 25-year-long career as a journalist and publisher, and analyst and research director latterly, I’m lucky to have been able to bring my knowledge and experience to bear in advising retailers and their technology providers on strategy and best practice. So, it was a natural progression for me and my co-author to research and dissect their biggest disruptor, Amazon, as a subject for our own book. The books I’ve recommended here are some of those I felt really helped me understand the dynamics shaping today’s shopping experiences and their impact on the wider world we live in.

Miya's book list on for winning with the modern consumer

Miya Knights Why did Miya love this book?

Written by the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, this book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand how the technological revolution will change our lives. It begins to unravel the seemingly irreconcilable differences between our insatiable appetite for convenience and consumption with equity and sustainability. 

By Klaus Schwab,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Fourth Industrial Revolution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution' Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People's Republic of China

'It's no secret that technologies are reshaping the world's economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere' Andrew McAfee, Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT, USA

We are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And this one will…


Book cover of Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence

Tom Stafford Author Of Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain

From my list on understanding the human mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am now a Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. I co-wrote Mind Hacks with technologist Matt Webb; we had great fun doing it. My research has always been in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, using experiments to understand the mind and brain and how they fit together. 

Tom's book list on understanding the human mind

Tom Stafford Why did Tom love this book?

The evolution of the mind is not over yet!

Clark is a philosopher and shows with wit and many great examples how our minds evolved to be a tight meshing between our brains, bodies, and the environment. In this account, our human endowment is to naturally absorb technologies, whether as simple as a stick or as complex as the internet, into our thinking and so warp and expand our consciousness and our capacity for thought.

So much discussion of artificial intelligence is about what computers will do better than humans or instead of humans. This book explodes the whole notion: intelligence has always been artificial, and the most interesting questions are about how we’re going to use technology to think. Onwards!

By Andy Clark,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Natural-Born Cyborgs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Robocop to the Terminator to Eve 8, no image better captures our deepest fears about technology than the cyborg, the person who is both flesh and metal, brain and electronics. But philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark sees it differently. Cyborgs, he writes, are not something to be feared-we already are cyborgs.
In Natural-Born Cyborgs, Clark argues that what makes humans so different from other species is our capacity to fully incorporate tools and supporting cultural practices into our existence. Technology as simple as writing on a sketchpad, as familiar as Google or a cellular phone, and as potentially…


Book cover of The Age of AI: And Our Human Future

Donald Firesmith Author Of A Cauldron of Uncanny Dreams

From my list on future world of ai and robots.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent over forty years developing complex, software-intensive systems, and the Association of Computing Machinery honored me with the title of distinguished engineer. AI and robotics have been my main technical focus for the last 5 years. For the last couple of years, I have been binge-watching videos on advances in AI and robotics and binge-reading books on the topic. I am also a multi-award-winning author of science fiction novels and short stories. Most of the short stories in my coming book involve AI and robots.

Donald's book list on future world of ai and robots

Donald Firesmith Why did Donald love this book?

I loved this book because it provides a unique view of the ramifications of AI, including its impact on politics, international relations, and the military. While not a book one would use to learn the basics of the technology of artificial intelligence, it nevertheless provides a useful view of its important non-technical ramifications.

By Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Age of AI as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Three of the world’s most accomplished and deep thinkers come together to explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the way it is transforming human society—and what this technology means for us all.

An AI learned to win chess by making moves human grand masters had never conceived. Another AI discovered a new antibiotic by analyzing molecular properties human scientists did not understand. Now, AI-powered jets are defeating experienced human pilots in simulated dogfights. AI is coming online in searching, streaming, medicine, education, and many other fields and, in so doing, transforming how humans are experiencing reality.

In The Age of AI,…


Book cover of AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future

Donald Firesmith Author Of A Cauldron of Uncanny Dreams

From my list on future world of ai and robots.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent over forty years developing complex, software-intensive systems, and the Association of Computing Machinery honored me with the title of distinguished engineer. AI and robotics have been my main technical focus for the last 5 years. For the last couple of years, I have been binge-watching videos on advances in AI and robotics and binge-reading books on the topic. I am also a multi-award-winning author of science fiction novels and short stories. Most of the short stories in my coming book involve AI and robots.

Donald's book list on future world of ai and robots

Donald Firesmith Why did Donald love this book?

As an author of science fiction, I loved this book because each chapter included a brief science fiction short story illustrating the chapter’s subject. This is another very-readable book for non-technical people interested in what the future of AI will be like.

The book estimates when various ramifications of AI will occur, but the field is advancing at an accelerating rate, so the dates need to be taken with a grain of salt.

By Kai-Fu Lee, Chen Qiufan,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked AI 2041 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A WALL STREET JOURNAL, WASHINGTON POST, AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In this ground-breaking blend of imaginative storytelling and scientific forecasting, a pioneering AI expert and a leading writer of speculative fiction join forces to answer an imperative question: How will artificial intelligence change our world within twenty years?

AI will be the defining development of the twenty-first century. Within two decades, aspects of daily human life will be unrecognizable. AI will generate unprecedented wealth, revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbiosis, and create brand new forms of communication and entertainment. In liberating us from routine work,…


Book cover of Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Book cover of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
Book cover of The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future

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