In the revolutionary excitement of the 1960s young people around the world called for a
radical shift away from the old industrial order imagining a future of technological
liberation and unfettered prosperity. Industrial society did collapse and a digital economy
has risen to take its place yet many are left feeling marginalized and deprived of the
possibility of a better life. The Inglorious Years explores the many ways we have been let down
by the rising tide of technology showing how our new interconnectivity is not fulfilling its
promise. Daniel Cohen describes how today's postindustrial society is transforming us all into
sequences of data that can be manipulated by algorithms from anywhere on the planet. As
yesterday's assembly line was replaced by working online the leftist protests of the 1960s
have given way to angry protests by the populist right. Cohen demonstrates how the digital
economy creates the same mix of promises and disappointments as the old industrial order and
how it revives questions about society that are as relevant to us today as they were to the
ancients.
