The Unaccountability Machine

Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions

By: Dan Davies

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Paperback | 13 January 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
304 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.6 x 12.8 x 2.4

Paperback

$27.95

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LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024'A great book ... a wonderful way of talking about our current world' Rory Stewart'Mischievous and fiercely intelligent' Ed Smith, New Statesman'One of the most insightful books I've read in a long time' Sam Freedman'The kind of book from which you look up to find the world suddenly more comprehensible' Guardian'One of the most useful books of 2024' EconomistWhen 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.

Industry Reviews

'Entertaining, insightful ... Dan Davies makes a compelling case for the use of Stafford beer's management cybernetics ... with The Unaccountability Machine, he provides an elegant new introduction to this intriguing road-not-taken in postwar social science, and makes a compelling case that in the age of AI its time has finally come' - Felix Martin

'Funny, fascinating and compelling - this is a book to make you chuckle, to make you angry, and above all to make you think' - Tim Harford, author

'Drawing on the work of economist Stafford Beer, Davies explores why big systems often make flawed decisions or duck out of them altogether - and the damaging consequences that can follow.' - Spear's Magazine

'A clear and compelling account of how decision-making works, or rather doesn't, in the twenty-first century. It will make you look at the world differently' - Stephen Bush

'An extraordinary book ... we all blame 'The System' for numerous woes, but what is The System? Dan Davies' immensely readable book tells us how there actually isn't one - it's far far weirder than that. I have come away a wiser man' - Patrick Alley, author

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