Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus
How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity
About the book
When protesters smashed the windows of a bus taking Google employees to work, their anger, though perhaps justified, was misdirected, Douglas Rushkoff argues. The real conflict, in his view, is not between the jobless and the digital elite, or between the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Technological change has spun the economic program out of control, trapping protesters, employees, shareholders and executives alike. Rushkoff links the gig economy, big data, algorithmic stock trading, robots and AI, and the collapse of the eurozone, and offers a critical vocabulary for the economic moment. His aim is an economy rebuilt to serve the people it was meant for.
Walter Isaacson praised Rushkoff as a sharp media theorist and critic of the digital economy who is also fun to read, and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito called it thoughtful and provocative. Seth Godin endorsed it as well.
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This book has 7 recommendations
Adam Pisoni (Founder/Abl)
It pushed my thinking on why the old model for structuring companies isn't sustainable.
Seth Godin (Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur)
If you don't know Rushkoff, you're not serious about figuring out what's going to happen next.
Tim O'Reilly (Founder/O'Reilly Media)
Every great advance begins when someone sees that what everyone else takes for granted may not actually be true. Douglas Rushkoff questions the deepest assumptions of the modern economy and blazes a path toward a more human-centered world.
Joi Ito (Director/MIT Media Lab)
Thoughtful, provocative, and essential reading for our economic moment.
Bonin Bough (Marketer, Author, Host of The Cleveland Hustles)
In what could be seen as a crisis, Rushkoff shares his smart, optimistic, and pragmatic perspective about how both businesses and consumers can reimagine today’s current economic operating system in the digital age—and prosper.
Walter Isaacson (Author)
Douglas Rushkoff is one of today's most incisive media theorists and a provocative critic of our digital economy. He's also fun to read
Irina Marinescu (Product Manager & Co-Founder/Save Potatoes)
Even before building a tech product we need to prove it is capable of continuous growth. This book gave me a bigger perspective about the place of growth and tech products in the context of a sustainable economy of a highly connected world.
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Adam Pisoni, Seth Godin, Tim O'Reilly, Joi Ito, Bonin Bough, Walter Isaacson, Irina Marinescu
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- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout (2 shared recommenders)