Books like Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant

The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, where 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. 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? *Blood in the Machine* tells the gripping story of the Luddites, weaving a lucid examination of our current age with the tale of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world—and is shaping our future.

First publish date: 2023