Data Empire - Roopika Risam ****

The central thesis presented by Roopika Risam is that information gives us (and particularly countries) the power to organise, control and dominate others. Although I have a couple of issues with the presentation, this is a genuinely interesting trip through the history of our use of stored information from the earliest tallies to the latest information technology.

I loved a quote from Lisa Gitelman that data is is always 'cooked' so 'raw data is an oxymoron'. This neatly underlines Risam's thesis that data and information are not neutral facts, but rather tools that (like everything from fire to electronics) can be used for good or evil. As we are taken through the historical context, it can sometimes be a little difficult to judge whether Risam regards a particular example as bad or good, even when the outcome is disastrous.

One thing I didn't like too much is the adherence to a popular science writing approach that has got distinctly hackneyed: opening chapters with an imagined narrative that is only tangential to the real point. So, for instance, the first chapter, C. 9000-1700 BCE begins 'The priestess hurried out of the temple with the baby she had delivered in secret...' and goes on in this fashion for a page and a half, leaving me as a reader thinking 'Get on with it!'

There was an interesting parallel with Brainjacking, which gives parallel roles to story, with 'informing, influencing and manipulating' being the equivalent of 'organising, controlling and dominating' here. I do take a little umbrage at Risam's suggestion that 'Long before we wrote stories we kept score.' [Meaning we denoted data with symbols like a tally.] But this only refers to written stories: we told stories before we kept score, and I would argue they are more powerful. Let's face it, if stories don't trump data, there's no point writing a book like this.

The part I struggled most with was the closing section that portrayed two possible versions of 2126. One where a tech company controlled a worker's life to the extent that the software decided when they woke up, what they had for breakfast, how long they spent at work, and so on. The other was what I assume was meant to be a utopia where 'In the garment cooperative, an algorithm suggests schedules that would boost output by 6 percent, so the workers call a vote. Some want the efficiency bonus, while others want shorter hours. The debate runs long, but the algorithm waits...'

For me, both these futures are dystopian. I don't want my future controlled by a tech company or by a committee. We certainly need to be able make human decisions about AI/algorithmic recommendations, but please save us from the workers' collective committee too. Have we learned nothing from communist failures? Inevitably what we get is a progressive liberal academic viewpoint of what the future should be like. The analysis of the dangers of misused information is important - but the solution should not be so one-sided.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here