McAfee portrays a rosy future not only for geeks, but also for creatives and humanists. He sees an invaluable partnership that aligns the individual strengths of minds and machines. It just may take a little Darwinian competition to get there.
McAfee explains that unlike our machines, people can see how the world has changed. We have common sense and compassion and we are inherently more creative. On the other hand, we are fallible and make mistakes. He urges us not to underestimate evidence, data, and the machines that bring us these important decision-making tools.
In theory, McAfee’s findings are persuasive, but as B2B marketers, we seem woefully behind our B2C counterparts in using high-quality, timely data. He agrees with this assessment, yet he remains optimistic that as Moneyball changed baseball, competition will spur an acceleration of data-driven decision-making.
And, before you think you’re trading one predator (HiPPO) for another (machines), you need to recognize that artificial intelligence (AI) is not a wolf in sheep’s clothing. AI is nothing without an able shepherd. McAfee is confident that if you can herd huge amounts of data and code and teach machines to learn, then you are well-positioned for the future.
But maybe you’re less of a code-herder and more of a pied-piper or storyteller. The future is bright for you, too. McAfee sees a profound need for people with strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.