Blood in the Machine

About this book

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, WIRED, and the FINANCIAL TIMES- A NEXT BIG IDEA BOOK CLUB "MUST-READ" The true story of the first machines that came for human jobs--and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today. "The most important book to read about the AI boom" --Wired 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. "gripping" --The New Yorker