Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology

A highly engaging tour through history in the service of emancipating our digital tomorrow
When we talk about technology we always talk about the futureÑwhich makes it hard to figure out how to get there. In Future Histories, Lizzie OÕShea argues that we need to stop looking forward and start looking backwards. Weaving together histories of computing and social movements with modern theories of the mind, society, and self, OÕShea constructs a Òusable pastÓ that help us determine our digital future.

What, she asks, can the Paris Commune tell us about earlier experiments in sharing resourcesÑlike the InternetÑin common? Can debates over digital access be guided by Tom PaineÕs theories of democratic economic redistribution? And how is Elon Musk not a visionary but a throwback to Victorian-era utopians?

In engaging, sparkling prose, OÕShea shows us how very human our understanding of technology is, and what potential exists for struggle, for liberation, for art and poetry in our digital present. Future Histories is for all of usÑmakers, coders, hacktivists, Facebook-users, self-styled LudditesÑwho find ourselves in a brave new world.

Shortlisted for the Victorian PremierÕs Literary Award, Australia.