Douglas Rushkoff - Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus : How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity download TXT, MOBI, PDF
9781617230172 English 1617230170 Capital in the Twenty-First Century meets The Second Machine Age in this stunning and optimistic tour de force on the promise and peril of the digital economy, from one of the most brilliant social critics of our time. The digital economy was supposed to create a new age of prosperity. But so far it has only exacerbated the worst excesses of capitalism: the gap between winners and losers gets more extreme as the 1% extract more value from the rest of us. Facebook resells our data for billions, while self-driving cars threaten to put already impoverished Uber drivers out of work. Algorithms drain our 401ks on Wall Street while on the streets of San Francisco, angry locals pelt rocks at the Google bus. Yet at the heart of the conflict between capitalism and the utopian values of the digital age lies a huge opportunity to usher in a new economic Renaissance--if we seize it now. Media scholar and technology author Douglas Rushkoff--one of today's most original and influential thinkers--identifies this economic turning point. Instead of automating and accelerating the extractive economy, digital technology could catalyze a distributed one. Drawing on sources both contemporary and historical, Rushkoff pioneers a new understanding of the old economic paradigm, from central currency to debt to corporations and labor. Most importantly, he offers a series of practical steps for businesses, consumers, investors, and policymakers to remake the economic operating system from the inside out--and prosper along the way. Instead of boycotting Walmart or overtaxing the wealthy, we should implement strategies that create value for stakeholders other than ourselves. From our currency to our labor to the corporation itself, all parts of the economy can be reprogrammed with minimal disruption to create a more equitably distributed prosperity for all. Rushkoff provides a pragmatic, optimistic, and human-centered model for economic progress in the digital age., Digital technology was supposed to usher in a new age of distributed prosperity, but so far it has been used to put industrial capitalism on steroids. It's not technology's fault, but that of an extractive, growth-driven, economic operating system that has reached the limits of its ability to serve anyone, rich or poor, human or corporate. Robots threaten our jobs while algorithms drain our portfolios. But there must be a better response to the lopsided returns of the digital economy than to throw rocks at the shuttle buses carrying Google employees to their jobs, as protesters did in December 2013. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed media scholar and technology author Douglas Rushkoff calls on us to abandon the monopolist, winner-takes-all values we are unwittingly embedding into the digital economy, and to embrace the more distributed possibilities of these platforms. He shows how we can optimize every aspect of the economy--from central currency and debt to corporations and labor--to create sustainable prosperity for business and people alike., Why doesn t the explosive growth of companies like Facebook and Uber deliver more prosperity for everyone? What is the systemic problem that sets the rich against the poor and the technologists against everybody else? When protesters shattered the windows of a bus carrying Google employees to work, their anger may have been justifiable, but it was misdirected. The true conflict of our age isn t between the unemployed and the digital elite, or even the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Rather, a tornado of technological improvements has spun our economic program out of control, and humanity as a whole the protesters and the Google employees as well as the shareholders and the executives are all trapped by the consequences. It s time to optimize our economy for the human beings it s supposed to be serving. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed media scholar and author Douglas Rushkoff tells us how to combine the best of human nature with the best of modern technology. Tying together disparate threads big data, the rise of robots and AI, the increasing participation of algorithms in stock market trading, the gig economy, the collapse of the eurozone Rushkoff provides a critical vocabulary for our economic moment and a nuanced portrait of humans and commerce at a critical crossroads."
9781617230172 English 1617230170 Capital in the Twenty-First Century meets The Second Machine Age in this stunning and optimistic tour de force on the promise and peril of the digital economy, from one of the most brilliant social critics of our time. The digital economy was supposed to create a new age of prosperity. But so far it has only exacerbated the worst excesses of capitalism: the gap between winners and losers gets more extreme as the 1% extract more value from the rest of us. Facebook resells our data for billions, while self-driving cars threaten to put already impoverished Uber drivers out of work. Algorithms drain our 401ks on Wall Street while on the streets of San Francisco, angry locals pelt rocks at the Google bus. Yet at the heart of the conflict between capitalism and the utopian values of the digital age lies a huge opportunity to usher in a new economic Renaissance--if we seize it now. Media scholar and technology author Douglas Rushkoff--one of today's most original and influential thinkers--identifies this economic turning point. Instead of automating and accelerating the extractive economy, digital technology could catalyze a distributed one. Drawing on sources both contemporary and historical, Rushkoff pioneers a new understanding of the old economic paradigm, from central currency to debt to corporations and labor. Most importantly, he offers a series of practical steps for businesses, consumers, investors, and policymakers to remake the economic operating system from the inside out--and prosper along the way. Instead of boycotting Walmart or overtaxing the wealthy, we should implement strategies that create value for stakeholders other than ourselves. From our currency to our labor to the corporation itself, all parts of the economy can be reprogrammed with minimal disruption to create a more equitably distributed prosperity for all. Rushkoff provides a pragmatic, optimistic, and human-centered model for economic progress in the digital age., Digital technology was supposed to usher in a new age of distributed prosperity, but so far it has been used to put industrial capitalism on steroids. It's not technology's fault, but that of an extractive, growth-driven, economic operating system that has reached the limits of its ability to serve anyone, rich or poor, human or corporate. Robots threaten our jobs while algorithms drain our portfolios. But there must be a better response to the lopsided returns of the digital economy than to throw rocks at the shuttle buses carrying Google employees to their jobs, as protesters did in December 2013. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed media scholar and technology author Douglas Rushkoff calls on us to abandon the monopolist, winner-takes-all values we are unwittingly embedding into the digital economy, and to embrace the more distributed possibilities of these platforms. He shows how we can optimize every aspect of the economy--from central currency and debt to corporations and labor--to create sustainable prosperity for business and people alike., Why doesn t the explosive growth of companies like Facebook and Uber deliver more prosperity for everyone? What is the systemic problem that sets the rich against the poor and the technologists against everybody else? When protesters shattered the windows of a bus carrying Google employees to work, their anger may have been justifiable, but it was misdirected. The true conflict of our age isn t between the unemployed and the digital elite, or even the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Rather, a tornado of technological improvements has spun our economic program out of control, and humanity as a whole the protesters and the Google employees as well as the shareholders and the executives are all trapped by the consequences. It s time to optimize our economy for the human beings it s supposed to be serving. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed media scholar and author Douglas Rushkoff tells us how to combine the best of human nature with the best of modern technology. Tying together disparate threads big data, the rise of robots and AI, the increasing participation of algorithms in stock market trading, the gig economy, the collapse of the eurozone Rushkoff provides a critical vocabulary for our economic moment and a nuanced portrait of humans and commerce at a critical crossroads."