Rating: 4/5
Alec Ross was the Senior Advisor for Innovation under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her time in office. In The Industries of the Future, he details the futures of industries including robotics, genetics, machine learning, cyber security and big data among others. Alec obviously has some expertise in these fields based on his time abroad visiting other countries and speaking with diplomats.
I found the book really interesting particularly the sections on robotics, machine learning, and genetics. Alec lays out some cultural specifics around places like Japan that could lend them to be leaders in the robotics industry in the near future. For machine learning, Alec describes translation aids that could allow a group of 10 individuals from around the world to converse in their native tongues while still understanding one another (this section is pretty eye-opening). With genetics, I’m optimistically looking forward to a time when we can tailor drugs towards specific individuals based on their genetic makeup.
If you’re interested in the fields mentioned above, I would encourage you to give this one a read/listen. Some of the advancements Alec hints at are extremely impressive and will give you a clearer picture of what some of these fields could look like in the future.