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Actually driving inequality, bringing some people along with it and leaving others behind. explain that concept. >> sure. well, after the first machine age, the technology is automating a lot tasks that humans used to do. it was mostly muscle power automated of humans and animals. now it's brain power, mental tasks. in many cases, that means that jobs like routine information processing work are being replaced, and the income is being concentrated by a few innovators who invent, say, the next turbo tax and often become very wealthy. it's creating more output and productivity, but it's also shi...

>> oftentimes better more accurately. don't make the same kind of mistakes. copies can be made for virtually 0 cost. each copy is a perfect replica of the original, each of them can be transmitted anywhere in the world almost instantaneously. they're free, perfect, and instant and that's characteristics we didn't have in the first machine age. they lead to some weird and wonderful economics. >> and in erik's example of tax preparation two out of the three important constituencies are better off. first of all those who have access to tax advice have tax advice to about 40 bucks a piece. the tea...

Second machine age replaces brain power. >> that's right. the first machine age was all about relaxing the limits on human muscle power, animal muscle power, steam engine, internal combustion engine, allowed us to move the world, manipulate the world better than before. but the second machine age is much more about relaxing the constraints on cognitive power, mental power, and we expect that just as the first machine age this is going to lead to an inflection point in human economic progress. >> and, again, the key difference here that you talk about is in the first machine >> you needed human...

If we've reached a point in society where setting a u.s. census statistic gets you accused of racism and stereotyping we're not going to learn anything. anyone can achieve at a high level and we're hoping that some people might find something useful in our book to achieve what they want to achieve in their lives. >> jed, aim my, pleasure having you on. >> thanks for having us. >> up next, why the new machine age is great for economic growth, great for innovation, but it might be bad for you unless you watch what comes next.

No emotion, does the same calculation every time and doesn't sleep. >> in many cases he's right. that the -- in the first machine age we replaced muscle power it was important to have a control system for that, that meant having a human. as we augment and replace mental power it's not as clear whether humans will be a substitute or a complement for the new machines and in many cases, it's the whole operation does run smoothly without humans. but i want to be clear -- >> give an example before we get to the caveat, let's give people the example you give in the book about tax preparation. >> tha...