23 November 2024 This book tells three stories about the impact of machines on the human condition: on the way we work, on our freedom, and on our physical survival. Each story contains within it a vision of heaven and hell: the promise of relief from work, freedom to think our own thoughts, and almost indefinite improvement of health and extension of life confronts their opposites in the spectre of human uselessness, of Orwelliam thought control, and of man made disaster....
Read More »A Tale of Frankenstein – Lecture at Bard College
19 November 2024 Introduction As we all know Frankenstein was the scientist in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of that name, who invented a human machine, which he intended to be a benefactor, but which turned out to be a monster. The question I want to address this evening is: can we avoid our technology destroying us? This is the most important thread running through my book, Mindless, just published in the United States. It discusses the impact of machines on jobs, on...
Read More »New York Times: Mindless review October 6th
“Skidelsky, a British economist, draws on literature, political philosophy, history, and cultural developments in this brooding meditation on the rise of artificial intelligence. The promise of a better world, he warns, “is open only to a tiny minority”.” –THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Share this:Like Loading...
Read More »Books
My latest book has so far have been published in three different places under three different titles. In the UK (hardback November 2023, paperback November 2024). It was entitled “The Machine Age” An Idea, A History,. A Warning. In Germany it was published in April 2024 under the title: Werden Wir Ersetzt: Vom Fortschrittswahn zu einer Ökonomie des gerechten Lebens. In America it was published in October 2024, under the title of: Mindless: The Human Condition in the Machine Age....
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