Power to the people

TLDR

While innovations like machine learning and predictive analytics are often associated with bigger profits and greater market share, these disruptors are also changing the way the public sector supports the most vulnerable population.

Abstract

A cultural history of the U.S. power grid reveals the system's current failings and its potential The American electric grid is the largest machine in the world. But bigger is not necessarily better. While other technological innovations sprint ahead of social change, when it comes to deeply institutionalized systems like the grid, we often neglect urgent maintenance and delay critical upgrades. In The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future, cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke dives deep into the history of the electric power grid, revealing how the social sciences help us understand infrastructure and technological management as deeply social qualities.