Blood in the machine : the origins of the rebellion against big tech Cover Image

Book

Blood in the machine : the origins of the rebellion against big tech / Brian Merchant.

Summary:

The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods. The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines--on punishment of death--and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought nineteenth-century England to its knees. Today, technology imperils millions of jobs, robots are crowding factory floors, and artificial intelligence will soon pervade every aspect of our economy. How will this change the way we live? And what can we do about it? The answers lie in Blood in the Machine. Brian Merchant intertwines an examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world--and is shaping our future.

Record details

ISBN: 0316487740
ISBN: 9780316487740
Physical Description: xxiii, 465 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Little, Brown and Company, 2023.
Copyright: ©2023

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-453) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Prelude. Power looms -- Part I. The great comet -- Part II. Metropolis of discontent -- Part III. Breaking frames, breaking bones -- Part IV. More value than work or gold -- Part V. The modern Prometheus -- Part VI. The owners of the new machine age.