Brian Merchant
Review via San Francisco Chronicle
In today’s tech-obsessed world, the Luddites, 19th century British worker rebels known for smashing the machines made to replace them, are considered hammer-wielding, anti-progress primitives who we’d do well to leave in the dustbin of history. But according to Los Angeles Times tech columnist Brian Merchant, that popular conception is dead wrong. In his new book, “Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech,” Merchant zooms in on the misunderstood movement to show us that those machine-smashing rebels were anything but ignorant — in reality, they were grappling with the same questions about automation and labor that we are now.
