New Dark Age

A Japanese tourist family follows their GPS along the coast of Australia all the way into the ocean, even though the road has long since disappeared. The rangers in Death Valley, Arizona, are familiar with this phenomenon, where outsiders trust technology more than their own senses. They even have a term for it: death by GPS. However, this macabre automation bias is merely a metaphor for the situation humanity finds itself in today. As new technologies penetrate deeper and faster into every corner of our lives, we are increasingly unable to adapt them to our needs. They have become a threat to humane forms of life. In a rapid tour de force, James Bridle, the Orwell of the 21st century, guides us through the technological dystopias of the present – from climate change and the internet to the automation of the workforce and the omnipresent data collection. But he reveals even more: we must learn to think differently about an unpredictable world if we want to navigate our New Dark Age.