Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology

What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology

Cover Art for 9781788734301, Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology by Lizzie O'Shea
ISBN: 9781788734301
Publisher: Verso
Published: 1 July, 2019
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Editions:
6 other editions of this product

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.

Booko is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Shop Preferences

Customize which shops to display. You can include the following shops by logging in to change your settings.

Booko is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Historical Prices

Loading...
This graph is for informational purposes only. Occasionally pricing data is captured incorrectly, through bugs in Booko or the stores supplying data, which may distort the graph, providing undue hope that even lower prices sometimes appear.

Recently Updated