A NEW STATESMAN AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND
SCHRODERS BUSINESS 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' Economist When 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.
