Reading Recap: June 2024
🎭Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines by Joy Buolamwini
Starting with facial recognition accuracy leading into intersectionality and systemic bias. Already oppressed groups can be further excoded by AI systems. Neutral does not mean unbiased. Why should we trust closed AI systems let loose on society?
On top of all this, Buolamwini’s personal story is both compelling and very honest. Her sharing of the internal struggles behind many impressive accomplishments creates an authentic connection to her as a human, not just an academic giant.
🧑🌾Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition by Wendall Berry
Why should we always assume technical advances cause progress and not regression? Should we do everything science is able to do? Who gets to decide? I appreciated this book because it is critical of science/tech progress without being anti-science. Barry also raises similar criticism at writers who claim the freedom to write whatever they want. Writing the intimate details of someone else’s life has a cost and should not be taken lightly.
💲Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
Just get started, don’t spend a ton of time and money trying to be perfect. Start and pivot. Be willing to ask for money from prospective customers. Get used to people saying no to you. A fair amount of salesy cringe, but also lots of great practical advice. Not just for entrepreneurs, this applies to anyone launching business programs. Then final chapter comes back to lifestyle design and the age-old lesson that money alone does not bring happiness.
🚦Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
The master of outlaw logic and the art of l-i-v-i-n shares his story. McConaughey is strikingly open about his life. If you love stories of those who blaze their own path and live with authenticity, you’ll enjoy this read.
🖐️The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.
The history of the emergence of managerial hierarchy in American business. Starting in 1840 with the railroad industry, managers (the Visible Hand) could drive more efficiency than the market (the Invisible Hand) in certain domains. When the velocity of production took off, administration and operations became the most important factor for business success. The manager evolved from a non-existent entity to an entire professional class in the short time of fifty years or so.
