
What do Stone Age axes, Toll House cookies, and Burning Man have in common? They are all examples of code in action. What is "code"? Code is the DNA of human civilization as it has evolved from Neolithic simplicity to modern complexity. It is the "how" of progress. It is how ideas become things, how ingredients become cookies. It is how cities are created and how industries develop. In a sweeping narrative that takes readers from the invention of the alphabet to the advent of the Blockchain, Philip Auerswald argues that the advance of code is the key driver of human history. Over the span of centuries, each major stage in the advance of code has brought a shift in the structure of society that has challenged human beings to reinvent not only how we work but who we are. We are in another of those stages now. The Code Economy explains how the advance of code is once again fundamentally altering the nature of work and the human experience. Auerswald provides a timely investigation of value creation in the contemporary economy-and an indispensable guide to our economic future.
The core question investigated is how the evolution of 'code'—defined as the fundamental instructions for human progress—has served as the primary driver of economic and societal development over the last forty thousand years. Philip E. Auerswald, a professor and expert in innovation policy, utilizes a historical framework to trace the progression of human ingenuity from Neolithic tools to modern digital systems. He argues that each technological shift forces a restructuring of labor and identity, positioning the current digital era as a critical juncture in the history of value creation.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts and readers frequently note the broad historical scope and the accessible, interdisciplinary nature of the prose. The book is often cited as a useful framework for understanding the long-term economic implications of technological change.
Page Count:
304
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190226781
ISBN-13:
9780190226787
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