The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions
Autor Dan Daviesen Limba Engleză Paperback – 13 mar 2025
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781788169554
ISBN-10: 1788169557
Pagini: 304
Dimensiuni: 128 x 196 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.25 kg
Ediția:Main
Editura: Profile
Colecția Profile Books
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
ISBN-10: 1788169557
Pagini: 304
Dimensiuni: 128 x 196 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.25 kg
Ediția:Main
Editura: Profile
Colecția Profile Books
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
Notă biografică
Dan Davies is a former Bank of England economist and investment bank analyst. As a journalist he has tackled the LIBOR and FX scandals, the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank and the Swiss Nazi gold scandal. He has written for the Financial Times and the New Yorker, and is the author of Lying For Money.
Recenzii
One of the most useful books of 2024
A clear and compelling account of how decision-making works, or rather doesn't, in the twenty-first century. It will make you look at the world differently
Mischievous and fiercely intelligent
One of the most insightful books I've read in a long time
A brilliant examination of the world through systems and cybernetics
Informative and ambitious ... an excellent diagnosis. Highly recommended
Interesting, unpredictable, and thought-provoking ... If you have ever worked in an organisation, let alone a large or badly managed one, you will have moments of recognition in reading this, a sense that [Stafford] Beer has rigorously theorised what you encounter every day
The most hope-inducing, game-changing book I've read recently ... The kind of book from which you look up to find the world suddenly more comprehensible. Also, it's about ten times funnier than any book about management has the right to be
Quirky and very intelligent ... The Unaccountability Machine explores how organisations get into the bizarre but common situation of acting in line with "process" but against all logic ... Davies is a surprising and provocative guide to an obvious societal problem that does not have an obvious fix
There's never been a better rebuttal of the neoliberal assumption that clever systems can run themselves without continuous human engagement and oversight. This book shows that humane results need human inputs: science will help us, but we have to help it too. There's no such thing as a free hunch
Wonderful ... fascinating ... tackles very contemporary problems by reviving the discipline of cybernetics and the work of Stafford Beer, with passing discursions involving squirrels, Brian Eno, Milton Friedman and a well-deserved kicking delivered to the discipline of modern economics.
Entertaining, insightful ... Dan Davies makes a compelling case for the use of Stafford beer's management cybernetics ... with The Unaccountability Machine, he provides an elegant new introduction to this intriguing road-not-taken in postwar social science, and makes a compelling case that in the age of AI its time has finally come
Funny, fascinating and compelling - this is a book to make you chuckle, to make you angry, and above all to make you think
Drawing on the work of economist Stafford Beer, Davies explores why big systems often make flawed decisions or duck out of them altogether - and the damaging consequences that can follow.
An extraordinary book ... we all blame 'The System' for numerous woes, but what is The System? Dan Davies' immensely readable book tells us how there actually isn't one - it's far far weirder than that. I have come away a wiser man
Davies explains the basic logic of an accountability sink: decision-making power is removed from individuals you might want to shout at, and made instead by an algorithm or some distant committee both ignorant of and immune to your objections
It is always rewarding to learn how things work, and The Unaccountability Machine lucidly shows the inner workings of corporate life and its systematic
Really worthwhile. Dan Davies' concept of accountability sinks is a great example of what Edwin Schlossberg meant when he noted that "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think
Not just a glorious tour of a neglected piece of intellectual history, though it is that, in passing. Really, a demonstration with unexpected tools that the world since the 1970s, far from being governed by steely economic rationality, has actually been in the grip of an ideologised greed that has systematically undermined our ability to manage and organise
Everybody wonders why nobody is ever to blame for a crisis. Diving into cybernetics, economics and management, Dan Davies explains why it's always the fault of the system not the people, how this lack of accountability has come about - and even what to do about it
The Unaccountability Machine offers a timely reminder: the machines we fear most are the ones we've already built ... It is a great book because it sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time: why big systems make terrible decisions ... an essential read for those looking to understand the complexities of modern decision-making ... It should be read by anyone concerned with the direction in which our world is headed, offering both a stark warning and a glimmer of hope for a more accountable future.
A clear and compelling account of how decision-making works, or rather doesn't, in the twenty-first century. It will make you look at the world differently
Mischievous and fiercely intelligent
One of the most insightful books I've read in a long time
A brilliant examination of the world through systems and cybernetics
Informative and ambitious ... an excellent diagnosis. Highly recommended
Interesting, unpredictable, and thought-provoking ... If you have ever worked in an organisation, let alone a large or badly managed one, you will have moments of recognition in reading this, a sense that [Stafford] Beer has rigorously theorised what you encounter every day
The most hope-inducing, game-changing book I've read recently ... The kind of book from which you look up to find the world suddenly more comprehensible. Also, it's about ten times funnier than any book about management has the right to be
Quirky and very intelligent ... The Unaccountability Machine explores how organisations get into the bizarre but common situation of acting in line with "process" but against all logic ... Davies is a surprising and provocative guide to an obvious societal problem that does not have an obvious fix
There's never been a better rebuttal of the neoliberal assumption that clever systems can run themselves without continuous human engagement and oversight. This book shows that humane results need human inputs: science will help us, but we have to help it too. There's no such thing as a free hunch
Wonderful ... fascinating ... tackles very contemporary problems by reviving the discipline of cybernetics and the work of Stafford Beer, with passing discursions involving squirrels, Brian Eno, Milton Friedman and a well-deserved kicking delivered to the discipline of modern economics.
Entertaining, insightful ... Dan Davies makes a compelling case for the use of Stafford beer's management cybernetics ... with The Unaccountability Machine, he provides an elegant new introduction to this intriguing road-not-taken in postwar social science, and makes a compelling case that in the age of AI its time has finally come
Funny, fascinating and compelling - this is a book to make you chuckle, to make you angry, and above all to make you think
Drawing on the work of economist Stafford Beer, Davies explores why big systems often make flawed decisions or duck out of them altogether - and the damaging consequences that can follow.
An extraordinary book ... we all blame 'The System' for numerous woes, but what is The System? Dan Davies' immensely readable book tells us how there actually isn't one - it's far far weirder than that. I have come away a wiser man
Davies explains the basic logic of an accountability sink: decision-making power is removed from individuals you might want to shout at, and made instead by an algorithm or some distant committee both ignorant of and immune to your objections
It is always rewarding to learn how things work, and The Unaccountability Machine lucidly shows the inner workings of corporate life and its systematic
Really worthwhile. Dan Davies' concept of accountability sinks is a great example of what Edwin Schlossberg meant when he noted that "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think
Not just a glorious tour of a neglected piece of intellectual history, though it is that, in passing. Really, a demonstration with unexpected tools that the world since the 1970s, far from being governed by steely economic rationality, has actually been in the grip of an ideologised greed that has systematically undermined our ability to manage and organise
Everybody wonders why nobody is ever to blame for a crisis. Diving into cybernetics, economics and management, Dan Davies explains why it's always the fault of the system not the people, how this lack of accountability has come about - and even what to do about it
The Unaccountability Machine offers a timely reminder: the machines we fear most are the ones we've already built ... It is a great book because it sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time: why big systems make terrible decisions ... an essential read for those looking to understand the complexities of modern decision-making ... It should be read by anyone concerned with the direction in which our world is headed, offering both a stark warning and a glimmer of hope for a more accountable future.
Cuprins
Preface
Author’s Note
Part One: The Nature of the Crisis
Introduction
1 ‘Something’s Up’
2 Stafford Beer
3 Aliens Among Us
Intermission: Computing Ponds and Rabbit Holes
Part Two: Pathologies of the System
4 How to Psychoanalyse a Non-human Intelligence
5 Cybernetics Without Diagrams
Intermission: Decerebrate Cats
Part Three: The Blind Spots
6 Economics and How It Got That Way
7 If You’re So Rich, Why Aren’t You Smart?
Intermission: Meanwhile, in Chile
Part Four: What Happened Next?
8 Enter Friedman
9 The Morbid Symptoms
10 What Is to Be Done?
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index
Author’s Note
Part One: The Nature of the Crisis
Introduction
1 ‘Something’s Up’
2 Stafford Beer
3 Aliens Among Us
Intermission: Computing Ponds and Rabbit Holes
Part Two: Pathologies of the System
4 How to Psychoanalyse a Non-human Intelligence
5 Cybernetics Without Diagrams
Intermission: Decerebrate Cats
Part Three: The Blind Spots
6 Economics and How It Got That Way
7 If You’re So Rich, Why Aren’t You Smart?
Intermission: Meanwhile, in Chile
Part Four: What Happened Next?
8 Enter Friedman
9 The Morbid Symptoms
10 What Is to Be Done?
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index