56. What Technology Promises: Azeem Azhar, author of ‘The Exponential Age’, [reads] ‘The Nature of Technology’
2 Pages with MBS - A podcast by Michael Bungay Stanier - Tuesdays
Sometimes it’s just hard to wrap your head around science. How old the planet is, is actually impossible to really grasp; the Tyrannosaurus rex is closer in time to the iPhone, than it is to the Stegosaurus. Five hundred million years is just … unimaginably vast. So, too with exponential growth. Humans are wired to understand linear, but critical to our survival and understanding our current world, is the need to wrap our heads around exponential. Get book links and resources at https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/ Azeem Azhar is a speaker, an entrepreneur, a podcaster, and the author of the new book Exponential. Azeem reads two pages from ‘The Nature of Technology’ by W. Brian Arthur. [reading begins at 11:15] Hear us discuss: Prosperity versus unease in work: “To not go forward is to go backward.” [16:20] | Understanding Exponential: Talking about Azeem’s book. [18:03] | The most radical idea in the book: “I found myself concluding that we needed more common or collectivist approaches to key issues.” [22:06] | Allowing commonality to emerge. [24:34] | Complicated problems, simple answers: “The outcomes we get will only be as good as the work we put in.” [36:34]
