**"New Dark Age is among the most unsettling and illuminating books
I've read about the Internet, which is to say that it is among the most
unsettling and illuminating books I've read about contemporary life." -
*New Yorker
As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our
understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea:
the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and
more data is enough to help us build a better world.
In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by
fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and
post-factual politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of
understanding to further their own interests. Despite the apparent
accessibility of information, we're living in a new Dark Age.
From rogue financial systems to shopping algorithms, from artificial
intelligence to state secrecy, we no longer understand how our world is
governed or presented to us. The media is filled with unverifiable
speculation, much of it generated by anonymous software, while companies
dominate their employees through surveillance and the threat of
automation.
In his brilliant new work, leading artist and writer James Bridle
surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems, and
reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital
sublime.
