Blood in the machine the origins of the rebellion against big tech
Tells the true story of the first time machines came for human jobs--and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today. 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 Lud...
| Main Author: | Merchant, Brian (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Little, Brown and Company,
2023.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
Tells the true story of the first time machines came for human jobs--and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today. 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 this volume. 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. --From publisher's description. |
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| Physical Description: |
xxiii, 465 pages : black and white illustrations, facsimiles ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-453) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780316487740 0316487740 |
| Author Notes: |
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