966: Byron Reese, CEO of Gigaom Talks AI and The The Fourth Age

The Tech Talks Daily Podcast

Byron Reese is the CEO and Publisher of Gigaom, one of the world’s leading technology research companies, and also regularly writes at Gigaom Publisher’s Corner. He brings his experience as a technologist, a passion for history, and his proven business acumen to illuminate how today’s technology can solve many of our biggest global challenges.

The following quote alone was enough alone for me to get him on the podcast today. “Technology is empowering. It augments us. And yet today, many are being told they should fear technology. In my writing, I reject that and offer a different narrative, of how technology can bring about a peaceful and prosperous world for all.”

Byron's new book "The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers and the Future of Humanity," is an excellent read for those looking for a more positive narrative about the impact of tech on our world and using 100,000 years of human history as his guide.

I invited him on to my daily tech podcast to talk about the issues around artificial general intelligence, robots, consciousness, automation, the end of work, abundance, and immortality. With 25 years as a successful tech entrepreneur, with multiple IPOs and exits along the way, Byron Reese is uniquely suited to comment on the transformative effect of technology in the workplace and society at large.

“The biggest problems of tomorrow will not be a lack of jobs but a shortage of humans to take advantage of all of the opportunities technology will offer.” – Byron Reese

We are living in a digital age where many journalists focus on writing about a dystopian future inspired by fictional writing. By contrast, Byron shares why he writes books that explore the wonders of the world of tomorrow about the future of work and life.