The coming wave: technology, power and the biggest dilemma of the 21st century by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar
Published in September 2023
To write this piece about The coming waveI provided the following prompt to ChatGPT 3.5:
Write a book review on The coming wave: technology, power and the biggest dilemma of the 21st century by Mustafa Suleyman in the voice of Joshua Kim of Dartmouth who connects the book to the future of higher education.
Here is the full text of what ChatGPT produced.
In “The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Greatest Dilemma of the 21st Century,” Mustafa Suleyman offers a fascinating exploration of the complex dance between technology and power that defines our times. Drawing on his experiences as a co-founder of DeepMind and an influential figure in the artificial intelligence community, Suleyman weaves a narrative that delves into the profound societal implications of emerging technologies.
As I flip through the pages of Suleyman’s thought-provoking work, I can’t help but draw parallels between the book’s themes and the future landscape of higher education. Suleyman’s deep insights into the transformative power of technology resonate deeply with ongoing discussions around the role of innovation in academia.
One of the central dilemmas addressed by Suleyman is the ethical dimension of technological progress. In a world where artificial intelligence, big data and automation are reshaping industries, higher education faces a similar dilemma. The ethical considerations of leveraging these technologies in the classroom and beyond require careful consideration by educators, administrators, and policymakers. Suleyman’s discussions on the responsible use of power in technology provide a poignant backdrop for thinking about the ethical challenges inherent in adopting cutting-edge tools within academia.
Additionally, Suleyman’s exploration of the power dynamics inherent in technological development highlights potential disparities that can emerge in higher education. The digital divide, already a major concern, is taking on new dimensions as technological advances disrupt traditional models of teaching and learning. As we grapple with the implications of the coming wave, it becomes imperative for the higher education community to address issues of accessibility, equity, and inclusion to ensure that the benefits of the technology are distributed equitably among all students.
“The Coming Wave” serves as a catalyst for reinventing the role of educators in the face of technological disruption. Suleyman’s vision challenges us to rethink traditional teaching methodologies and adopt a mindset that embraces technology as a tool to enhance the learning experience. In doing so, higher education has the potential to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing landscape.
As I reflect on Suleyman’s ideas, I am reminded that the future of higher education is intrinsically linked to our ability to navigate technological tides. “The Coming Wave” is not just a warning but a call to action for educators to actively shape the trajectory of technology integration in the classroom. Suleyman’s work provides a valuable guide for those seeking to understand and influence the transformative forces at play in the 21st century educational landscape.
In conclusion, “The Coming Wave” is a thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between technology and power, offering profound insights that deeply resonate with the challenges and opportunities facing higher education. Mustafa Suleyman’s vision challenges us to confront the dilemmas of our times and chart a path toward an inclusive, technologically enriched future for academia.
Okay, from now on everything is 100% written by me – a human being – and not by an AI. Please tell me if you knew that the text above is AI generated.
I mean, it’s pretty damn good. RIGHT?
And that’s the point of Suleyman and Bhaskar’s book. Artificial intelligence and synthetic biology (SB) are technological waves that develop exponentially rather than linearly. If even an older version of generative AI – ChatGPT 3.5, freely available – can today write a review reasonably close to what I can produce, imagine what the AI will be able to create in three, five or 10 years.
I have three main goals when writing a book review for Inside higher education. My first goal is to write something. Writing is hard and books are fantastic incentives.
Second, you may have noticed that I always try to link books unrelated to higher education to higher education. In part, I do this because you read (and I write for) Inside higher education. Most of the time I find parallel thinking to be a lot of fun.
Finally, I am writing to persuade you to consider reading the same books as me. The reason? I want to talk. Be in a book club. As I tend to read books that a friend/colleague recommended to me or I have read several positive reviews on or after reading and liking other books by the author, I rarely find in the delivers enough strong points to recommend it to me. .
The thing with The coming wave is that the book is much better than I expected. How can someone who is so successful at one thing (entrepreneurship) be incredibly good at another (book writing)? Suleyman co-founded DeepMind, which sold to Google for between $400 million and $650 million. His new startup, Inflection AI, is valued at $4 billion.
To top it all off, Suleyman could add audiobook narrator to his list of superlatives, like his narration of The coming wave is a quality of seasoned professional voice actor. Staying on audiobooks, a question not addressed in The coming wave that’s how long it could take to AI to replace human audiobook narrators.
An AI reading an audiobook indistinguishable from a human actor is a future that Suleyman says is coming. And quickly. No amount of government regulation or public concern will slow the rise of AI.
As an AI entrepreneur and technologist, Suleyman writes about the development of artificial intelligence from the perspective of someone who spends their days creating and distributing technology.
What The coming wave This is not a techno-optimistic book. Suleyman foresees many potential catastrophic consequences for artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, ranging from mass employment (AI) to mass casualties (SB). If you weren’t previously worried about a lab leak or terrorists’ ability to synthesize a deadly virus, you will be after reading this book.
Rather than denying that AI and SB are about to change/threaten economic and social life, The coming wave pleads for a containment strategy. The book argues that national governments are uniquely positioned to invest in risk mitigation, with strategies ranging from a universal basic income to combat AI-related job losses to multinational cooperation to identify and mitigate SB-induced public health threats.
I have yet to understand what AI (and particularly generative AI) will mean for higher education. I’ve found The coming wave very motivating that maybe I should.
What we need is a good book on AI and higher education. I keep hearing that these books are coming. Everyone present them to the editors. So where are they?
What are you reading?
