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Homo Numericus

The coming 'civilization'

Daniel Cohen Steven Rendall

$41.95

Hardback

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English
Polity Press
10 June 2024
From Amazon to Tinder, from Google to Deliveroo, there is no facet of human life that the digital revolution has not streamlined and dematerialized. Its objective was to reduce costs by forgoing face-to-face interactions, and it was a direct result of the free-market shock of the 1980s, which sought to expand the marketplace seamlessly in every possible dimension. Today, we can be algorithmically entertained, educated, cared for, and courted in a way that was impossible in the old industrial society, where institutions structured the social world. Today, these institutions have been replaced by monetized virtual contact. 

As the industrial revolution did in the past, the digital revolution is creating a new economy and a new sensibility, bringing about a radical revaluation of society and its representations. While obsessed with the search for an efficient management of human relations, the new digital capitalism gives rise to an irrational and impulsive Homo numericus prone to an array of addictive behaviours and subjected to intensive forms of surveillance. Far from producing a new agora, social media produce a radicalization of public debate in which hate-filled speech directed against adversaries becomes the norm. 

But these outcomes are not inevitable. The digital revolution also offers an exciting path, one that leads to a world in which everyone deserves to be listened to and respected. It explores a new way of living that is historically unprecedented, that of a society based neither on individualism nor on the hierarchical model of earlier civilizations. Are we able to seize the new opportunities opened up by the digital revolution without succumbing to its dark side?

By:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Polity Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 137mm,  Spine: 28mm
Weight:   363g
ISBN:   9781509560219
ISBN 10:   1509560211
Pages:   172
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Daniel Cohen was a Professor of Economics at the École normale supérieure and founding member of the Paris School of Economics.  His many books include The Wealth of the World and the Poverty of Nations, The Infinite Desire for Growth, The Prosperity of Vice and Homo Economicus, the (lost) prophet of modern times.

Reviews for Homo Numericus: The coming 'civilization'

‘The digital revolution will change our world. It will change the way we act and the way we interact. It will change the scope of governments and firms to affect our choices. All this for the better and for the worse. Nobody is better placed than Daniel Cohen to take us on an exploration of how the digital world may look. A fascinating intellectual journey.’ Olivier Blanchard, Peterson Institute for International Economics ‘In what turned out to be his final work, Daniel Cohen brought his encyclopaedic knowledge to bear on the contradictions of post-industrial society, now reinforced by artificial intelligence: an apparent liberation of the individual alongside intensified surveillance; an ostensible enablement of a vox populi that has also generated soaring material inequality and the loneliness of global communication. He appeals to us to treasure those institutions that remind us of our continuing need for each other.’ Colin Crouch, University of Warwick


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