The Mechanic and the Luddite

"Jathan Sadowski is one of the most incisive and important thinkers on technology and capitalism today. This urgent book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the deeper political economy that shapes the digital domain and, by extension, every facet of modern life."--Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart "Smart, urgent, and as bluntly powerful as the titular Luddite‘s hammer, this book is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand how technology really gets made--and whom it‘s made to serve. Even better, it will give you the tools to fight back against the complex systems that have entangled the globe with digitized regimes of profit, exploitation, and oppression. The time for a thunderous new Luddite politics is now--and Sadowski‘s scathing, erudite, and accessible manifesto delivers."--Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech "Sadowski has written a badly needed text that‘s arriving at exactly the right time. His crisp and active prose generously illuminates technology‘s relationship to flows of money and power and the whims of those who wield them. Reading The Mechanic and the Luddite feels like listening to a great friend excitedly telling you about a new discovery, letting you in on something interesting and important."--Meredith Whittaker, Chief Advisor and Cofounder, AI Now Institute