Technology Run Amok
Description
The recent data controversy with Facebook highlights that the tech industry as a whole was utterly unprepared for the backlash it faced as a result of its business model of selling user data to third parties. Despite the predominant role that technology plays in all of our lives, the controversy also revealed that many tech companies are reactive, rather than proactive, in addressing crises.
This book examines society's failure to manage technology and its resulting negative consequences. Mitroff argues that the "technological mindset" is responsible for society's unbridled obsession with technology and unless confronted, will cause one tech crisis after another. This trans-disciplinary text, edgy in its approach, will appeal to academics, students, and practitioners through its discussion of the modern technological crisis.
Reviews / Votes
"Thank goodness Ian Mitroff is still stirring up trouble and making us think deeply about the problems and opportunities we are facing. This is an important book. Don't read it unless you really want to think." (R. Edward Freeman, The Darden School, University of Virginia)"We all recognize there is a technological revolution unfolding. This book shows specifically how it is changing and will change us. The book is a must read for every citizen of our time." (Professor Robert E. Quinn, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business)
"Ian Mitroff takes the idea of 'wicked messes' to a whole new place, arguing that the ubiquitous connectivity that we now have are quite literally changing our minds and our societies as well. This revolutionary book argues that technological connectivity is even more revolutionary than most of us recognize. Mitroff links what he calls the technological mind to the reality that our world is comprised of complexsystems that as humans we are ill-equipped to deal with unless we can overcome our tendency to 'Split' the world into good and bad and learn to really deal with complexity." (Sandra Waddock, Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USA)
"Ian Mitroff is once again at his very best in this enlightening book, addressing the economic-social-political malaise we find ourselves in these days. Mitroff provides us both a penetrating analysis of what lies at the root of the issues, as well as a ray of hope for a way forward. Deeply humanistic in outlook as it is sharp and thunderous in pointing a finger at the bigotry, callousness and sheer stupidity that surround us, whether on social media or in learned journals, Mitroff highlights the 'wicked mess' (not a derogatory concept) of our lives that require an intelligent and dispassionate approach. His book is as much an insight into what has gone wrong, as it is a warning to recast our thinking on the huge challenges we face. This is a book for our times and I urge you to read it attentively. It may (just) save us from walking down a path to oblivion, blinkered." (Yochanan Altman, PhD, Professor of International HRM, Middlesex University, London)
""The revolution of everything" begins to cast light into the perplexing and anxiety-provoking changes currently unravelling in our society. With his concepts of 'complex, messy systems' and 'technological mindset', Mitroff explains why some of these changes are both far-reaching and anxiety-provoking. In this way, Mitroff joins a long line of outstanding and prophetic critical commentators on technology and the future which include Lewis Mumford and Alvin Toffler who saw clearly what lay ahead long before anybody else. Using psychoanalytic insights, Mitroff goes beyond these commentators in elucidating the kinds of mindsets that will best enable us to make the best of the wickedly messy world we have created." (Yiannis Gabriel, School of Management | University of Bath)
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