Table of Contents
1 We Need a Usable Past for a Democratic Future 1
A Spanish Prince's Automaton and an American Novelist's Living History
2 An Internet Built around Consumption Is a Bad Place to Live 12
Cityscapes, as Imagined by Sigmund Freud and Jane Jacobs
3 Digital Surveillance Cannot Make Us Safe 39
Policing Bodies and Time on London's Docks
4 Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers 65
Exploding Cars, Racist Algorithms, and Design Beholden to the Bottom Line
5 Technological Utopianism Is Dangerous 95
The Tech Billionaires Have Nothing on the Paris Commune
6 Collaborative Work Is Liberating and Effective 121
Poetical Philosophy, from Lovelace to Linux
7 Digital Citizenship Is a Collective Endeavor 151
Tom Paine's Revolutionary Idea of Public Participation
8 Automation Can Mean Less Work and More Living 171
Downing Tools So We Can Build Robots to Eat the Rich
9 We Need Digital Self-Determination, Not Just Privacy 196
Frantz Fanon Theorizes Freedom
10 The Digital World Is an Environment That Needs to Be Cared For 217
Ancient Forms of Governance Hold Relevance for Modern Infrastructure
11 Protect the Digital Commons! 239
Socialise the Cows
Conclusion: History Is for the Future 261
Another World Is on Its Way
Acknowledgments 264
Notes 268
Index 312