The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State

By a writer hailed as 'America's greatest living essayist' (Fintan O'Toole) an urgent account of how rule by machine has ravaged the world It presented itself as a form of futurism. But the future envisioned by the architects of the Artificial State looked, chillingly, like the very worst of the past... We live in the age of data. Over the past century, rapidly evolving technologies have transformed every aspect of our society, in troubling and seemingly unstoppable ways. Political campaigns have been reduced to attention-mining algorithms, multinational corporations control public discourse, and the era of the liberal nation-state seems to be coming to an end, replaced by the rule of artificial intelligence. Today, power is maintained through mystification: machines, we are told, know what humans cannot. Yet nothing about any of this was, or is, inevitable. In this astounding account of how technology has corroded democracy around the world, prizewinning historian Jill Lepore traces the rise and fall of what she calls the 'Artificial State'. Examining everything from robot rights and Elon Musk's origins to what data centres cost wildlife, Lepore offers a history - and a perspective - wholly missing from the debate. History, Lepore demonstrates, is driven not by machines but by individuals, societies, cultures and ideas. The architects of the Artificial State had no theory of governance, nor did they have any interest in the rule of law, or any capacity for restraint. They drew their ideas not from science, but from science fiction. Yet everything destructive that they have done can be undone. By illuminating the origins of the Artificial State, Lepore reveals how we can escape it - helping us to imagine, and fight for, a different future.

About the Author :
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at the New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Review :
There are times when a historian is absolutely necessary for understanding the future--this is one of those times, and Jill Lepore is the perfect person for the job. A fascinating, perceptive and completely timely account of how we got to artificial intelligence and how we might get past it An amazing book – entertaining, revelatory, utterly original, exquisitely researched. Lepore uses her fierce intelligence to show us who and what we are, and this feels like a true act of love Who’s going to determine the future: the tech billionaires or the rest of us? Jill Lepore argues that there’s nothing inevitable about eliminating jobs, destroying ecosystems, and arming authoritarian regimes. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is at once dazzling in its range and totally on target Lepore is our best scholar of the culture of governance, and our most vital historian. Here she repudiates the prospect of AI as a replacement for democracy. This is the issue of our times, and Lepore is the voice of sanity Superb. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is the best account I’ve ever seen of how the owners and controllers of data technology have changed and are changing us in ways we are only just beginning to grasp. Lepore seems to have left nothing out, and the result is a history that is richly informed, a view of human progress that is wise and balanced, and a timely and terrifying warning Lepore’s concept of the Artificial State is capacious ... Intriguing, jewel-like stories are Lepore’s hallmark, and The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State sparkles with them Jill Lepore writes history like a poet Lepore is a brilliant historian with an eye for unusual and revealing stories Jill Lepore is unquestionably one of America’s best historians; it’s fair to say she’s one of its best writers too Lepore is a sophisticated and original thinker and an ensnaring, witty, and provocative storyteller