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Program or Be Programmed
Douglas Rushkoff, OR Books, £15
THIS critique of the annexation of human planning and decision-making by digital systems was originally published in 2010. The revised edition, which includes a new preface, afterword and reading list, is essential reading.
The arguments at the heart of the book — Douglas Rushkoff’s “11 commands for the AI future” — have gained in relevance over a period in which digital technology has encroached into every aspect of human life and culture.
The book is marred by a fundamental contradiction. Its exploration of the threats and promises of digital tools and systems is haunted by a figure I would characterise as Schrodinger’s CEO. Like the cat in Erwin Schrodinger’s famous thought experiment, Rushkoff’s tech billionaires occupy two contradictory states.
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