SHOW NOTES

Season 3, Episode 17: Taming Automation Dragons with John Pavley

It can happen to any one of us. A software developer working at a big company is suddenly fired by his company's automated system and no one knows why or how to stop the system from terminating the employee. The story went viral this Summer, with everyone weighing in on the perils of automation and befuddled human beings who may become victims of rogue technology. "The Machine Fired Me: No human could do a thing about it!"

Charlie discusses this troubling scenario, among other things, with  guest, John Pavley (@jpavley), Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Viacom. John offers a unique take on how companies and employees can implement emerging technologies responsibly (hint: learn to love taming the dragons).

CONNECT WITH JOHN:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpavley/ John's Blog: http://www.pavley.com/ Twitter:  @jpavley

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

 

John's List of Resources:

• Ray Wenderlich for mobile development tutorials (books and videos). John notes that this platform keeps him sharp as Google and Apple keep moving headlong into the iOS and Android future.
• Glitch.com -web development platform started by creators of Stack Overflow and Trello -- what John likes about Glitch is its social coding and ease of use features. If you want do learn and do Node.js-based HTML5 development, Glitch is a great way to get started.
• Metamagical Themas - Douglas Hofstadter is a philosopher/computer scientist/author/mathematician who has profoundly influenced John's thinking and life choices. Definitely worth reading.
• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - new book by Yuval Noah Harari, a historian/futurist who deeply thinks about what it means to be human.
• Story of Civilization - classic book by Will and Ariel Durant -- gain a broad perspective of human history but with enough detail to understand more than just the main events, John is currently listening to the audio book version and highly recommends it.

Charlie's List of Resources to get up to speed on automation:

Online Courses

• Robotic Process Automation - RPA Overview (Udemy)
• Mind of the Universe - Robots in Society: Blessing or Curse?
• Organizational Analysis
• Unethical Decision Making
• Introduction to Software Development
• Building Chatbots Powered by AI

Books, Articles, Movies

• What the Czech Play That Coined the Term 'Robot' Tells Us About Today's Robonomics 
• The Second Machine Age (book)
• Future Shock (classic book by Alvin Toffler)
• Automation and the Future of Jobs (documentary) 

New Research on Automation and Jobs

• How Will Automation Transform Jobs in NYC?
• Aligning Opportunities in Northeast Ohio
• Automation Potential for Jobs in Indianapolis
• Automation Potential for Jobs in Phoenix

REACH OUT TO US AT:

Website: tech2025.com/podcast-show Twitter: @JoinTech2025 Instagram: @jointech2025 Facebook: facebook.com/jointech2025 Email: [email protected] Charlie Oliver: Twitter – @itscomplicated