The Bleeding Edge

Why Technology Turns Toxic in an Unequal World

Capitalism likes us to believe in the steady, inevitable march of progress, from the abacus to the iPad. But the historical record tells of innumerable roads not taken, all of which could have led to better, more equal worlds, and still can.

Academic and activist Bob Hughes puts flesh on the bones of the idea that 'another world is possible', using as evidence the technology that capitalism claims as quintessentially its own: the computer in all its forms.

Contrary to popular belief capitalism does not do innovation well – instead suppressing or appropriating it. This book shows that great innovations have never emerged from capitalism per se, but always from the utopian moments that occur behind the capitalist's back. And when it does embrace an innovation, the results are often the diametric opposite of what the innovators intended.

In this thorough and meticulous work Hughes argues that if we only prioritized equality over materialism then superior and more diverse technologies would emerge leading to a richer more sustainable world.

Bob Hughes is an academic, activist, and author. Formerly he taught electronic media Oxford Brookes University and now spends his time researching and campaigning against inequality. He is author of Dust or Magic, a book for digital multimedia workers, about how people "do good stuff with computers." He is a member of No One is Illegal, which campaigns for the total abolition of immigration controls, for whom he has written many articles.