Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How The World Lost its Mind
Hardcover, 304 pages
English language
Published April 18, 2024 by Profile Books Limited.
Part-biography, part-political thriller, The Unaccountability Machine is a rousing exposé of how management failures lead organisations to make catastrophic errors.
When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members.
Management cybernetics was Beer's science of applying self-regulation in organisational settings, but it was largely ignored – with the result being the political and economic crises that that we see today. With his signature blend of cynicism and journalistic rigour, Davies looks at what's gone wrong, and what might have been, had the world listened …
Part-biography, part-political thriller, The Unaccountability Machine is a rousing exposé of how management failures lead organisations to make catastrophic errors.
When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members.
Management cybernetics was Beer's science of applying self-regulation in organisational settings, but it was largely ignored – with the result being the political and economic crises that that we see today. With his signature blend of cynicism and journalistic rigour, Davies looks at what's gone wrong, and what might have been, had the world listened to Stafford Beer when it had the chance.
What up my Beerheads! This book is surprisingly funny, and very well written. I like how it asks interesting questions without making everything trivial and boring.
It's also absolutely frightening.
What up my Beerheads! This book is surprisingly funny, and very well written. I like how it asks interesting questions without making everything trivial and boring.
It's also absolutely frightening.
I've been looking for this book for a year. If you're anything like me, you'll have a lot of moments when reading where davies puts together something you haven't been able to put into words in the same way. Asking why everything is dumb and bad now, Davies outlines how corporation and state respectively have lobotomized themselves in the last 50 years because it seemed like a good idea at the time. As books that try to give you a whole new perspective on things go, it's remarkably short, and you may find yourself wanting to revive a semi-abandoned scientific discipline by the end of it.
I've been looking for this book for a year. If you're anything like me, you'll have a lot of moments when reading where davies puts together something you haven't been able to put into words in the same way. Asking why everything is dumb and bad now, Davies outlines how corporation and state respectively have lobotomized themselves in the last 50 years because it seemed like a good idea at the time. As books that try to give you a whole new perspective on things go, it's remarkably short, and you may find yourself wanting to revive a semi-abandoned scientific discipline by the end of it.
