Blood in the Machine
The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
Published on 12. October 2023
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-0-316-48774-0 (ISBN)
Description
Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year
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 a lucid examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world-and is shaping our future.
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 a lucid examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world-and is shaping our future.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
Approximately 12 b/w photos/illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
732 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-316-48774-0 (9780316487740)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2023
Little, Brown and Company
€11.99
Available for download
Person
Brian Merchant is the bestselling author of THE ONE DEVICE and a senior editor of Motherboard, VICE's science and technology outlet. He is also the founder of Terraform, its online fiction outlet, and his work has appeared in The Guardian, Slate, VICE Magazine, Salon, Fast Company, Discovery, GOOD, Paste, Grist, and beyond.