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A review by cattytrona
Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology by Lizzie O'Shea
4.0
found this a really clear, interesting and sort of appropriately worrying piece of work. what is this world we're in? what on earth will it become?
the history conceit thing is not evenly employed, but when it can power a whole chapter it's really convincing, and i enjoyed how theory (like fanon’s) was as much a part of history as events and people, in o'shea‘s usage. i think a different title, one which emphasised digital would have worked better: i almost didn't pick it up, because it wasn't clear how much focus on digital tech there would be, and that would have been a shame.
am curious about the lack of discussion of storage cost, both monetary and environmental, but that might be a symptom of this book's 2019 publication: everything moves so fast. history's the only solid ground we've got when it comes to technology right now, i suppose.
the history conceit thing is not evenly employed, but when it can power a whole chapter it's really convincing, and i enjoyed how theory (like fanon’s) was as much a part of history as events and people, in o'shea‘s usage. i think a different title, one which emphasised digital would have worked better: i almost didn't pick it up, because it wasn't clear how much focus on digital tech there would be, and that would have been a shame.
am curious about the lack of discussion of storage cost, both monetary and environmental, but that might be a symptom of this book's 2019 publication: everything moves so fast. history's the only solid ground we've got when it comes to technology right now, i suppose.