How the history of technological revolutions can help us better understand economic and political polarization in the age of automation
From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among soc...
How the history of technological revolutions can help us better understand economic and political polarization in the age of automation
From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends, Frey documents, broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution.
Just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. But Frey argues that this depends on how the short term is managed. In the nineteenth century, workers violently expressed their concerns over machines taking their jobs. The Luddite uprisings joined a long wave of machinery riots that swept across Europe and China. Today’s despairing middle class has not resorted to physical force, but their frustration has led to rising populism and the increasing fragmentation of society. As middle-class jobs continue to come under pressure, there’s no assurance that positive attitudes to technology will persist.
The Industrial Revolution was a defining moment in history, but few grasped its enormous consequences at the time. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present.
作者简介
· · · · · ·
Carl Benedikt Frey is the Oxford Martin Citi Fellow and codirector of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford and in the Department of Economic History at Lund University. Twitter @carlbfrey
目录
· · · · · ·
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Part I The Great Stagnation 29
1 A Brief History of Preindustrial Progress 33
2 Preindustrial Prosperity 60
3 Why Mechanization Failed 72
· · · · · ·
(更多)
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Part I The Great Stagnation 29
1 A Brief History of Preindustrial Progress 33
2 Preindustrial Prosperity 60
3 Why Mechanization Failed 72
Part II The Great Divergence 93
4 The Factory Arrives 97
5 The Industrial Revolution and Its Discontents 112
Part III The Great Leveling 141
6 From Mass Production to Mass Flourishing 147
7 The Return of the Machinery Question 174
8 The Triumph of the Middle Class 189
Part IV The Grert Reversal 223
9 The Descent of the Middle Class 227
10 Forging Ahead, Drifting Apart 249
11 The Politics of Polarization 264
Part V The Future 297
12 Artificial Intelligence 301
13 The Road to Riches 342
Acknowledgments 367
Appendix 369
Notes 373
Bibliography 425
Index 453
· · · · · · (收起)
在19世纪初，随着工业和农业领域的机械化进程加快，人们对所谓的机械问题的关注变得更强烈了。在经济学家群体中大卫・李嘉图认为：“劳动阶级接受的观点是，使用机器经常会损害他们的利益。这不是基于偏见和错误，反而符合政治经济学的正确原则。”他在著名篇章《论机器》（ On Machinery）中宣称，机器降低了对无差别劳动的需求，导致了技术性失业；他还提出了一些理论方法证明这种失业只是短期问题。然而如果说对机器的恐惧有了什么变化的话，那也只是在接下来的几十年间有所回升。査尔斯・狄更斯（ Charles Dickens）和伊丽莎白・盖斯凯尔（ Elizabeth Gaskell）等维多利亚时代小说家的作品抓住了当时人们的关切点，频繁呼应了劳动者们对机器的看法。盖斯凯尔的《玛丽・巴顿》（ Mary Barton）书将背景设定在了1839-1842年的曼彻斯特，书中一个角色在伦敦的场议会听证会上评论道：“嗯，说到底你在点子上。上帝保佑你，小伙子，一定要让他们破坏更多的机器。自打珍妮纺纱机出现以来，我们就没有过过好日子了。机器毁掉了穷苦人的生活。”当时的人们也担心机器会影响工人的工资、尊严、道德独立以及社会地位。1839年狄更斯参观了曼彻斯特的几座工厂，虽然他自己也经历过贫穷和苦难，但他仍对工人们的生活和工作环境感到震惊。他的小说《艰难时世》（ Hard Times）就是根据这些印象写成的。马克思认为，“工人利用工具，在工厂中，是工人服侍机器”。狄更斯则虚构了焦煤镇（ Coketown）这样一个工业城市，在这里“蒸汽机的活塞单调地上上下下，就像大象陷人了忧郁的疯狂”。二人都强调了工厂工作的重复性，将工人描绘成了工厂机械力量的奴隶。 (查看原文)
尤里卡
民主与建设出版社2021版
汗青堂
民主与建设出版社2021版
野原新之助
民主与建设出版社2021版
vcbear
民主与建设出版社2021版
耿一文
民主与建设出版社2021版
波波夫
民主与建设出版社2021版
0 有用 hx 2020-12-13 12:53:09
考据翔实 更像历史书😄
0 有用 Ranciere 2026-07-29 20:12:44 上海
Engels' Pause
0 有用 Blair咻 2019-12-11 23:27:07
a quite uneven account.有些地方看得津津有味，但好多篇章段落有重复之嫌，更有些地方感觉论证太过随便。
0 有用 Chaos 2025-10-06 15:22:56 美国
表述有点重复，材料很丰富。