{"product_id":"we-are-not-machines-the-fight-for-the-future-of-work-9780241704226","title":"We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom award-winning Financial Times journalist Sarah O'Connor, a deeply reported investigation into how AI and robotics are transforming the way we work  A tsunami of change, we are told, is sweeping the economy as robots and AI threaten to take over tasks done by humans. But while we worry that we're robotizing our work, what if the real risk is that we're robotizing ourselves?  When prize-winning Financial Times journalist Sarah O'Connor set out to investigate what was happening on the front lines of technological change, she found people who weren't losing their jobs to machines, but who felt they were losing something else instead. From translators forced to edit AI output to university graduates interviewed by software and warehouse workers surrounded by robots, she heard stories of work becoming lonelier, less creative, less human.  But O'Connor also found hopeful stories of jobs being made better, safer and more enjoyable - where workers haven't rejected the new tools, but instead have learned to control them. Exploring questions of power, design, institutions and ideas, her reporting shows that the way technology changes the world of work is not pre-determined, but must be contested and shaped by all of us.  Inspired by stories from nineteenth-century English cotton mills to twenty-first century Swedish mines, We Are Not Machines reveals how we can fight for work which is more respectful of our limits, and more worthy of our minds.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780241704226\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 01 Sep 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 22.4(H)x14.4(L)x2.5(W)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eSarah O'Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, as well as longer features and investigations. She has won the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils, the Wincott Award for financial journalism, Business Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards, Financial\/Economic story of the year at the Foreign Press Awards and Business and Finance Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eOriginal \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eenlightening\u003c\/b\u003e, rooted in reality and populated by people. Not many books about the labour market make you laugh and bring tears to your eyes. This one does. It’s the kind of writing that AI will never replace... She talks to miners in Sweden, care workers in the Netherlands, drivers in America and online workers everywhere from Costa Rica to the Himalayas. Out of those stories she creates \u003cb\u003ea remarkable picture of what is happening to jobs\u003c\/b\u003e -- Emma Duncan * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePerceptive \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003ecaptivating\u003c\/b\u003e -- Will Dunn * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMoving, powerful and refreshing\u003c\/b\u003e... \u003ci\u003eWe Are Not Machines\u003c\/i\u003e isn’t against technology per se... what animates the book is a question \u003cb\u003emore concerned with humanity\u003c\/b\u003e than technology -- Christopher Webb * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eSarah is \u003cb\u003eone of the few people\u003c\/b\u003e who really understands how AI is changing the character of work already and what it means for all of us -- David Runciman * Past Present Future Podcast *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEnjoyable\u003c\/b\u003e... O’Connor \u003cb\u003euncovers stark differences\u003c\/b\u003e in the way technology is affecting people’s working lives, depending on their bargaining power over the way it is introduced... Importantly, O’Connor also reviews the growing evidence that we may be reading, thinking and understanding less as we lean on technological shortcuts – potentially changing the very nature of human intelligence -- Heather Stewart * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eTruly predicting how this technology will manifest in our lives is an impossible task, but O'Connor offers \u003cb\u003efascinating insights\u003c\/b\u003e into the many ways in which it can affect workers...This book is a plea that as technological change occurs, we \u003cb\u003ehold on to what makes us human\u003c\/b\u003e -- Frieda Klotz * Irish Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eExcellent \u003c\/b\u003eand wide-ranging -- Tom Knowles * New Scientist *\u003cbr\u003eTactful... \u003cb\u003ea curious and stimulating investigation\u003c\/b\u003e... O’Connor implores that she still holds the belief that technology can help make the world better, but it won’t just happen naturally. The future that so many of us want and desire can happen, but “not without a fight” -- Neve Blue * Buzz Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eengrossing \u003c\/b\u003eread that reframes the ongoing debate about technological change away from binary lists of winners and losers, and towards a discussion of power, politics and humanity. It is \u003cb\u003ewell-rooted in economic history\u003c\/b\u003e yet \u003cb\u003ebrisk\u003c\/b\u003e, taking in the development of factory management since the Industrial Revolution... At the heart of this book is an exploration of how humans not only make tools, but are shaped by them -- Yuan Yang * The House Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efierce\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ewise\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ebeautiful \u003c\/b\u003ebook -- Tim Harford","brand":"Sarah O'Connor","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49241061327065,"sku":"9780241704226","price":49.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/we-are-not-machines-the-fight-for-the-future-of-work-9780241704226","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}