Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity

Daron Acemoğlu and Simon Johnson challenge the assumption that technological innovation naturally benefits all of society. They trace a millennium of history, from medieval agricultural shifts to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of artificial intelligence, to show that progress often enriches a small elite while stagnating wages for the majority. The authors argue that the direction of technology depends on institutional choices rather than inevitable evolution. They advocate for shifting focus from automating labor to enhancing human capability through democratic oversight and redirected investment.

This audiobook serves listeners interested in the intersection of labor economics, social history, and technological policy. It attracts those seeking a historical framework to understand current digital displacement and those who want to move beyond technological fatalism. The audience learns how organized worker movements and specific public policies historically forced innovation to share wealth more broadly. Listeners walk away with a specific set of criteria for evaluating whether current software and hardware developments will create widespread prosperity or deepen existing inequality.