What can people do better than computers? That is the question Geoff Colvin hopes to answer in his new book, “Humans are Underrated.” Even at a time when computers are able to drive cars, predict Supreme Court decisions and perform surgery, humans are still able to make themselves irreplaceable by leveraging the skills we are hardwired to use.
Colvin explains how the skills the economy values are changing in historic ways. The abilities that will prove most essential to our success are no longer the technical, classroom-taught left brain skills that economic advances have demanded from workers in the past. Instead, our greatest advantage lies in what we humans are most powerfully driven to do. This is how we create durable value that is not easily replicated by technology, because we’re hard-wired to want it from humans, he says. As technology advances, we shouldn’t focus on beating computers at what they do, but develop our most essential human abilities and teach our kids to value not just technology, but also the richness of interpersonal experience.
“Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will” is available on www.800ceoread.com for $22.36.
