The Bleeding Edge: Why Capitalism Musn't Get its Hands on New Technologies Ever Again - Softcover

Bob Hughes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780263295 ISBN 13: 9781780263298

Publisher: New Internationalist, 2016

Synopsis

Capitalism likes us to believe in the steady, inevitable march of progress, from the abacus to the iPad. But the historical record tells of innumerable roads not taken, all of which could have led to better worlds, and still can. Argues that prioritising equality would develop superior and more diverse technologies that would lead to a richer more sustainable world.

Bob Hughes shows that every major development in the computer's history arose from voluntary initiative or public funding rather than corporate research. The historical evidence suggest that innovation and creativity thrive in egalitarian settings and are stifled by competition - and the hijacking of the computer by capitalism is taking humanity down the wrong road.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Hughes is an academic, activist and author. Formerly he taught electronic media Oxford Brookes University and now spends his time researching and campaigning against inequality. He is author of Dust or Magic (Addison Wesley), a book for digital multimedia workers, about how people "do good stuff with computers". He is a member of No One is Illegal, which campaigns for the total abolition of immigration controls, for whom he has written many articles and pamphlets.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Internationalist
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780263295
• ISBN 13: 9781780263298
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320