Power and progress : our thousand-year struggle over technology and prosperity / Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.
2023
T14.5 .A29 2023 (Map It)
On loan from 4th Floor, due 20. May 2024
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Details
Author
Acemoglu, Daron, author.
Title
Power and progress : our thousand-year struggle over technology and prosperity / Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.
Published
New York : PublicAffairs, 2023.
Copyright
©2023
Call Number
T14.5 .A29 2023
Edition
First edition.
ISBN
9781541702530 hardcover
1541702530 hardcover
9781541702554 electronic book
1541702530 hardcover
9781541702554 electronic book
Description
vii, 546 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)1358405566
Summary
"Two bestselling authors overturn conventional wisdom about how economies work, revealing the untold story of who wins and who loses the rewards of prosperity, in a work that fundamentally transforms how we look at and understand the world"-- Provided by publisher.
Artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies won't guarantee a rising standard of living for workers, according to this lucid manifesto. Two MIT economists explore historical instances of new technology failing to pay off for workers: improved agricultural practices and equipment in medieval Europe conferred few benefits on peasants while lords and churchmen expropriated the increased output; the first century of the Industrial Revolution brought no income gain to laborers; and twenty-first century advances in digital technology have yielded stagnant working-class wages while tech moguls make fortunes. But another path of broadly shared prosperity is possible, the authors contend, citing the post-WWII era when strong unions, government regulations, and relatively enlightened corporate management ensured that workplace automation, rather than de-skilling and discarding workers, improved their marginal productivity and wages and created plenty of higher-skilled jobs. The authors give an incisive analysis of the economics of labor and technology, along with a trenchant critique of the "techno-optimism" of corporate visionaries, though their own ideas about what a truly worker-friendly artificial intelligence might look like remain hazy. Still, this is a stimulating call for social and political action to ensure the rising tide of innovation lifts all boats. -- Adapted from publisher's description.
Artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies won't guarantee a rising standard of living for workers, according to this lucid manifesto. Two MIT economists explore historical instances of new technology failing to pay off for workers: improved agricultural practices and equipment in medieval Europe conferred few benefits on peasants while lords and churchmen expropriated the increased output; the first century of the Industrial Revolution brought no income gain to laborers; and twenty-first century advances in digital technology have yielded stagnant working-class wages while tech moguls make fortunes. But another path of broadly shared prosperity is possible, the authors contend, citing the post-WWII era when strong unions, government regulations, and relatively enlightened corporate management ensured that workplace automation, rather than de-skilling and discarding workers, improved their marginal productivity and wages and created plenty of higher-skilled jobs. The authors give an incisive analysis of the economics of labor and technology, along with a trenchant critique of the "techno-optimism" of corporate visionaries, though their own ideas about what a truly worker-friendly artificial intelligence might look like remain hazy. Still, this is a stimulating call for social and political action to ensure the rising tide of innovation lifts all boats. -- Adapted from publisher's description.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-516) and index (pages 521-546).
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Added Author
Johnson, Simon, 1963- author.
Table of Contents
Prologue What is progress?
1. Control over technology
2. Canal vision
3. Power to persuade
4. Cultivating misery
5. A middling sort of revolution
6. Casualties of progress
7. The contested path
8. Digital damage
9. Artificial struggle
10. Democracy breaks
11. Redirecting technology
Bibliographic essay
1. Control over technology
2. Canal vision
3. Power to persuade
4. Cultivating misery
5. A middling sort of revolution
6. Casualties of progress
7. The contested path
8. Digital damage
9. Artificial struggle
10. Democracy breaks
11. Redirecting technology
Bibliographic essay