The Technology Trap
Subtitle: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: Jun 18, 2019
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 480
ISBN-13: 9780691172798
Copyright date: 2019
First sentence: Inequality was pervasive in the agrarian economies that dominated the world in 1800.
Description: "From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society's members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends, Frey documents, broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. But Frey argues that this depends on how the short term is managed. In the nineteenth century, workers violently expressed their concerns over machines taking their jobs. The Luddite uprisings joined a long wave of machinery riots that swept across Europe and China. Today's despairing middle class has not resorted to physical force, but their frustration has led to rising populism and the increasing fragmentation of society. As middle-class jobs continue to come under pressure, there's no assurance that positive attitudes to technology will persist. The Industrial Revolution was a defining moment in history, but few grasped its enormous consequences at the time. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present."--Page [2-3] of cover.
Notes: Source title: The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation
Table of contents: label: Preface
title: ix; label: Introduction
title: 1; label: PART I.
title: THE GREAT STAGNATION
pagenum: 29; label: 1.
title: A Brief History of Preindustrial Progress
pagenum: 33; label: 2.
title: Preindustrial Prosperity
pagenum: 60; label: 3.
title: Why Mechanization Failed
pagenum: 72; label: PART II.
title: THE GREAT DIVERGENCE
pagenum: 93; label: 4.
title: The Factory Arrives
pagenum: 97; label: 5.
title: The Industrial Revolution and Its Discontents
pagenum: 112; label: PART III.
title: THE GREAT LEVELING
pagenum: 141; label: 6.
title: From Mass Production to Mass Flourishing
pagenum: 147; label: 7.
title: The Return of the Machinery Question
pagenum: 174; label: 8.
title: The Triumph of the Middle Class
pagenum: 189; label: PART IV.
title: THE GREAT REVERSAL
pagenum: 223; label: 9.
title: The Descent of the Middle Class
pagenum: 227; label: 10.
title: Forging Ahead, Drifting Apart
pagenum: 249; label: 11.
title: The Politics of Polarization
pagenum: 264; label: PART V.
title: THE FUTURE
pagenum: 297; label: 12.
title: Artificial Intelligence
pagenum: 301; label: 13.
title: The Road to Riches
pagenum: 342; label: Acknowledgments
title: 367; label: Appendix
title: 369; label: Notes
title: 373; label: Bibliography
title: 425; label: Index
title: 453