A Few Essentials of Technology Criticism

There are sentences in here that seem like they perfectly diagnose our current dilemma on art and tech - and yet they were written two generations ago. Mumford is a towering figure in 20th century technology studies and this book is a beautiful summary of his main ideas.

This text is a giant of the second wave techlash. It focuses its chapters on several key technological objects and brings to bear a searing critique. Beautifully written.

The original “algorithm” book exposing the pernicious and automated ways machine learning and computation judge and sort our lives.

Among the most important elements of the critique of digital utopia is how its supposedly immaterial, “magic” processes have material, earthbound sources. Crawford’s award winning document of the many components of artificial Intelligence is an eye opener.

A metallurgist by trade, Franklin’s printed Massey lectures deliver some cunning theoretical blows to the technocracy. Her concepts of prescriptive vs holistic technology have powered the last 30 years of the techlash.

One of the foundational myths (and mistakes) about the internet and the constellation of tech that makes it run is that it is primarily about freedom. In a text way ahead of its time, Galloway argues instead that, online, control is the order of the day. Protocols are the mechanisms by which the about face is accomplished.