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Future Histories Lizzie O'Shea

Future Histories By Lizzie O'Shea

Future Histories by Lizzie O'Shea


$20.99
Condition - Very Good
Only 2 left

Summary

A highly engaging tour through progressive history in the service of emancipating our digital tomorrow.

Future Histories Summary

Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology by Lizzie O'Shea

When we talk about technology we always talk about the future - which makes it hard to figure out how to get there. In Future Histories, Lizzie O'Shea argues that we need to stop looking forward and start looking backwards. Weaving together histories of computing and social movements with modern theories of the mind, society, and self, O'Shea constructs a usable past that can help us determine our digital future.

What, she asks, can the Paris Commune tell us about earlier experiments in sharing resources-like the Internet-in common? Can debates over equal digital access be guided by Tom Paine's theories of democratic, economic redistribution? And, how is Elon Musk not a visionary but a throwback to Victorian-era utopians?

In engaging, sparkling prose, O'Shea shows us how very human our understanding of technology is, and what potential exists for struggle, for liberation, for art and poetry in our digital present. Future Histories is for all of us-makers, coders, hacktivists, Facebook-users, self-styled Luddites-who find ourselves in a brave new world.

Future Histories Reviews

Before we became big data bundles for the lackeys of Dorsey, Jobs, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, to exploit, the digital revolution seemed to promise a democratic utopia, a commons in cyberspace not governed by neoliberal norms. Can we realize that revolutionary dream and stop desiring our own domination? Incredibly, yet thrillingly and plausibly, Lizzie O'Shea argues that, if only we can mobilize history to serve rather than enervate us, the answer is yes. -- Stuart Jeffries
A thought-provoking text for readers looking to approach the subject [of digital technologies] from a well-informed ... perspective. * Engineering and Technology Magazine *
Polemical and eclectic. * Choice *
There's plenry of history in Future Histories, but the perspective is polemical and eclectic: a pinch of socialism, a dash of anarchism, relentless strictures on digital misconduct, and, throughout, a salutary call to use technology to fulfill humanity's potential. -- T. P. Johnson * Choice *
In engaging, sparkling prose, O'Shea shows us how very human our understanding of technology is, and what potential exists for struggle, for liberation, for art and poetry in our digital present. * New Books Network *
O'Shea's approach is avowedly episodic as she mines history for illuminating gems. -- Hettie O'brien * Times Literary Supplement *
This insightful, provocative book is an intellectual kaleidoscope that sits effortlessly at the crossroads between investigation, history and radical philosophy. * Victorian Premier's Literary Award panel *
A startlingly original book, one that belies comparison to most other books... Although it is not, I would argue, a fair expectation that writers who analyse or expose societal problems should also be the ones to prescribe the remedies to solve them, this hefty task is one that O'Shea takes on with aplomb and considerable skill. -- Ruby Hamad * Meanjin *

About Lizzie O'Shea

Lizzie O'Shea is a lawyer, writer, and broadcaster. She is regularly featured on national television programs and radio to comment on law, digital technology, corporate responsibility, and human rights, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and The Sydney Morning Herald, among others.

Additional information

GOR010154778
9781788734301
1788734300
Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology by Lizzie O'Shea
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Verso Books
20190514
336
Short-listed for Victorian Premier's Literary Award, Australia 2020
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Future Histories