Blood in the Machine
The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
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4.1 • 7 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"The most important book to read about the AI boom" (Wired): The "gripping" (New Yorker) 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
Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, Wired, and the Financial Times • A Next Big Idea Book Club "Must-Read"
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Merchant (The One Device) offers a stirring account of the Luddites' "messy rebellion" against new technological innovations in early-19th-century England. Merchant traces the narrative arcs of several groups, including the Luddites, skilled workers in the cloth industry whose lives were irreversibly overhauled by the arrival of new machinery (such as water-powered yarn-spinning machines and looms); the prominent cultural and literary figures, such as Lord Byron, who took an active interest in their grievances; and the factory owners who lived in fear of their nighttime attacks. The portrayal is one deeply sympathetic to the Luddite cause; Merchant is keen to deconstruct the modern, negative connotations of the term "Luddite," emphasizing that they were driven to act not by some blinding, stubborn hatred of technology, as is often assumed, but rather by a deep understanding of its potential pitfalls and a distaste for the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of privileged overseers. Merchant draws astute comparisons to technology's disruptions of jobs and livelihoods in the 21st century, using the rise of Uber and AI as prominent examples. This is a significant contribution to the history of the Industrial Revolution and a strong warning against complacency in the face of technological change.
Customer Reviews
DECENT 4
This book follows the story of the Luddite Movement in the early 1800's England. After a handful of new machines, many of the skilled workers in England's textile industry were replaced by machines. Despite the already rough living conditions at the time, the factory owners and entrepreneurs had no problem replacing human labor with machine, leaving a huge amount of workers jobless. This pushed people to the brink, many of them starving in the streets. In a fight against their old employers, many groups across the country rallied behind a mythological figure named Nedd Ludd, and fought back against their employers by destroying the machines that stole their jobs.
My main complaint about this book is not about the narrative or content but its length. In the historical section of the book, I felt there were a few characters and storylines that felt out of place and unnecessary. Although some of them did add interesting detail to the book such as B the Spy and Mary Shelley, not everything was completely necessary. I feel like when you take a step back and look at the book, there were definitely some forgettable/unneeded moments for the story and message as a whole. Also, following the conclusion of the Luddite history, the author spent significant time tying the history to present day context. This is an essential part of the book but, I do feel like this section dragged as the author made the same points multiple times.
Overall, this book was a very good read. The history of the Luddite movement was so interesting and compelling. I love the organization of the chapters bouncing between different characters and cities to try and give the full scope of the history. The modern day context at the end of the book was the cherry on top. In our current capitalist and oligarchic system, it is seemingly inevitable that technology and AI will continue to be wielded by the rich and powerful for their own benefit. This technology will continue to erode the need for human labor in the name of lower operating costs. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested how AI will affect and potentially disrupt our current labor model. Hopefully as the conditions continue to get worse (most likely), the working class can remember the heart of the Luddite movement and use their power to fight for what is right.