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Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
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About This Book
Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year The "rich and gripping" 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 (Naomi Klein) 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.
Reviews
"A well-argued linkage of early industrial and postindustrial struggles for workers' rights."
"This is a significant contribution to the history of the Industrial Revolution and a strong warning against complacency in the face of technological change."
"Merchant is keen to reframe the Luddites as proto-unionist reformers rather than violent revolutionaries."
"As American unions gain power and support, this book is a welcome parable of worker solidarity and resistance."
"The book is a historical reconsideration of the movement and a gripping narrative of political resistance told in short vignettes ..."
"Blood in the Machine elevates and contextualizes the Luddites' history while also directly connecting their actions to contemporary challenges around an app-based gig economy ..."
"Occasionally, though, Merchant's chatty pop-sci style becomes distracting ..."
"Merchant is keen to see in the Luddites echoes of today's demands for workers' right."
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