The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State

“Lepore, a historian at Harvard and a staff writer for The New Yorker, traces an origin story for the Artificial State that is at once more surprising and more tragic… . Parts of The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State read like an elegy for a vanishing world. But Lepore says it isn’t too late. We humans know how to make a mess of things; we also know how to imagine a different future.” – Jennifer Szalai - New York Times
“A wide-ranging warning about the deleterious effects of Silicon Valley on American democracy … . This book is sure to generate [interesting debate] on op-ed pages, podcasts, and newsletters (voilà). Put in your hold now at the library, or you won’t get a copy till next year.” – Ron Charles, Substack
“It’s hard to think of someone better to write a book like this—a history of humanity’s use of technology and data that doubles as a penetrating critique of artificial intelligence, automation, and the increasing tyranny of the algorithm in everyday life. As bleak as Lepore’s diagnosis is, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is also a surprisingly hopeful book.” – Alex Shepherd - The New Republic
“Intriguing, jewel-like stories are Lepore’s hallmark, and The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State sparkles with them… . Lepore’s argument that humanity is in the process of ceding vast power to a tiny group of unelected businessmen – some of whom appear to be cartoon supervillains – is a sound one.” – Farrah Jarral - Guardian
”[A] powerful anti-AI treatise … . [A] fiery cri de coeur.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Thoughtful and deeply unsettling … . Jill Lepore (We the People) examines our headlong race toward a technology-driven form of governance that she argues is rapidly supplanting liberal democracy, and that may, in its full flowering, deprive us of our very humanity … . Her book is an ambitious but concise survey of the historical roots of that idea, contrasting various utopian visions of technology’s benevolence with the reality of its documented malign effects on the political process.” – BookPage
“In this pointed rejoinder to Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), which foresaw a world in which humans were essentially superfluous, Lepore charts a long history that extends deep into the ‘machine age’ … . A deeply learned dive into the frightening visions of technocrats past and present.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Lepore posits that individuals and institutions have the wherewithal to guide the trajectory of AI towards positive ends, but only if we understand the foundations of its development and the motivations of its developers. An ardent observer of the artificial state, Lepore traces its history through literary influences, such as science fiction and its metamorphosis from simple mechanical engineering to potentially world-destroying system reconfigurations… . Staggering, sobering, yet essential reading for all who want to understand the arc of this increasingly digital, online, corporate, and out-of-control world.” – Booklist, starred review
“An amazing book—entertaining, revelatory, utterly original, exquisitely researched. It made me rethink everything I thought I knew about our country and this moment, and offered some truly fresh insights into what ails us. We often hear the phrase ‘national treasure’ these days, but in this case it’s true: Lepore uses her fierce intelligence to show us who and what we are, and this feels like a true act of love. A person can’t help but feel inspired by the riveting intelligence and joyful curiosity of Jill Lepore. Knowing that there is a mind like hers in the world is a hope-inducing thing.” – George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo
“Who’s going to determine the future: the tech billionaires or the rest of us? Jill Lepore argues that there’s nothing inevitable about eliminating jobs, destroying ecosystems, and arming authoritarian regimes. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is at once dazzling in its range and totally on target.” – Elizabeth Kolbert, Staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Under a White Sky
“How lucky are we to be alive at the same time as Jill Lepore? Generations to come will marvel that anyone could think so clearly amidst such chaos. At a moment when the AI takeover feels new and strange and inevitable, Lepore shows it to be anything but. She connects dots from different eras, different stories, different technologies, even different species. The result is a profound reframe of what we really mean by ‘artificial.’” – Latif Nasser, co-host of Radiolab
“Superb. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is the best account I’ve ever seen of how the owners and controllers of data technology have changed and are changing us in ways we are only just beginning to grasp. Lepore seems to have left nothing out, and the result is a history that is richly informed, a view of human progress that is wise and balanced, and a timely and terrifying warning.” – Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy
“There are times when a historian is absolutely necessary for understanding the future—this is one of those times, and Jill Lepore is the perfect person for the job. A fascinating, perceptive, and completely timely account of how we got to artificial intelligence and how we might get past it.” – Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, professor of law at Harvard Law School, and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the New York Times bestsellers These Truths and We the People. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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