The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation

Big book but it really enlight the past and the path toward future issues

Very informative. Well recommended.

Sehr detaillierte Beschreibung, wie die soziale und politische Situation in vergangenen Epochen dazu geführt hat, dass Innovationen unterdrückt wurden und weshalb die britische Insel im 18. Jahrhundert zum Zentrum der ersten industriellen Revolution wurde. Der Autor zieht Vergleiche mit der heutigen Zeit in Bezug auf künstliche Intelligenz und Roboter. Ein profundes Buch. Ich hätte mir lediglich gewünscht, dass der Autor die Schlussfolgerungen aus der Geschichte konsequenter auf die Zukunft angewendet hätte. Er bleibt etwas zu allgemein.

A colleague suggested that I read Technology Trap as they said it was one of the books they had it on their reading list. I had just finished a good book -- Backable -- so I was looking for something new. This book reminds me of the long, verbose, indirect books I had to read for my 400 level economics classes. This book is not about technology, rather its about the development of societies, politics ect.The author's basic premise is this: Society's response to new technology is directly based on the impact of that technology on workers and the relative political power of those workers. Technology that replaces workers when workers have relatively more political power gets resisted. Technology that replaces workers when workers have less political power gets forced onto the workers. Technology that augments workers, raising their skills and productivity is better received.Strengths:If you are looking for an academic oriented view of technology that is based on sociological factors, then this is a good book. At more than 360 pages of text and almost a 100 pages of footnotes and bibliography it is a hefty read.People who have a skeptical to slightly negative view of technology will find much to confirm those views in this book.People who like a historical approach to analysis will get much from this book -- lots of stories to tell and concepts to bring up in conversation.Challenges:The book requires you reading through a lot of material about the history of technology, the pre-industrial revolution, the industrial revolution etc. which bogs the reader down.The book is written from the perspective of a political-economist rather than a technologist or technology-economist. Erik Brynjolfsson's writings are much better aligned with a technology and then its impact view with significantly less pages. Second Machine Age being my recommendation.The author's discussion of technology indicates a general understanding of technology, something that you would get from reading news accounts, Wired etc. Which is fine to describe the political and potential social impacts of technology, but it is lacking for a technologist who wants to learn more.Overall not recommended