The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions - and How The World Lost its Mind

By: Dan Davies

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Synopsis: 'A corporation, or a government department isn't a conscious being, but it is an artificial intelligence. It has the capability to take decisions which are completely distinct from the intentions of any of the people who compose it. And under stressful conditions, it can go stark raving mad.'When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members. Management cybernetics was Beer's science of applying self-regulation in organisational settings, but it was largely ignored - with the result being the political and economic crises that that we see today. With his signature blend of cynicism and journalistic rigour, Davies looks at what's gone wrong, and what might have been, hadthe world listened to Stafford Beer when it had the chance.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781805220794
Publisher:: Little, Brown Book Group Limited
Date of Addition:: 04/18/24
Copyrighted By:: Daniel Davies
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Narrated By:: Peter Dickson
Categories:: Nonfiction, Computers and Internet, Business and Finance, Politics and Government, Sociology
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.