Power and Progress : Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity

Published 18/05/2023 | Hardback,
Description:

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZEA FINANCIAL TIMES TECHNOLOGY BOOK OF THE YEAR’The blueprint we need for the challenges ahead’ Shoshana Zuboff’If you are not already an addict of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson’s previous books, Power and Progress is guaranteed to make you one’ Jared Diamond’A breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology’ Abhijit Banerjee and Esther DufloA bold new interpretation of why technology has all too often benefited elites – and how we must reshape the path of innovation to create true shared prosperity.

A thousand

years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear. Progress is

not automatic but depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways

of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow

interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity.

Much of the

wealth generated by agricultural advances during the European Middle Ages was

captured by the Church and used to build grand cathedrals while the peasants

starved. The first hundred years of industrialization in England delivered

stagnant incomes for workers, while making a few people very rich. And

throughout the world today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence increase

inequality and undermine democracy through excessive automation, massive data

collection, and intrusive surveillance.

It doesn’t have

to be this way. Power and Progress demonstrates that the

path of technology was once – and can again be – brought under control. The

tremendous computing advances of the last half century can become empowering

and democratizing tools, but not if all major decisions remain in the hands

of a few hubristic tech leaders striving to build a society that elevates

their own power and prestige.

With their

breakthrough economic theory and manifesto for a better society, Acemoglu and

Johnson provide the understanding and the vision to reshape how we innovate

and who really gains from technological advances so we can create real

prosperity for all.