Digital technology was supposed to change the world for the better, but it has left us miserable, divided, and misinformed—when it hasn’t posed a direct threat to our physical safety.
The problem isn’t just greedy CEOs promising to “change the world” as they seek ever more eyeballs and app downloads. It’s that the tech industry struggles to understand what its products actually do and how they might fail.
The reason is twofold: an unshakeable faith in managerialism—the notion that every business can be reduced to a spreadsheet overseen by MBAs—and an equally strong belief in software as the solution to all problems.
From airplane disasters to PowerPoint propaganda to the perils of generative AI, I uncover a pattern of recklessness and overconfidence in the managerial class—and ultimately argue that developers themselves must intervene to curb corporate power.
Fatal Abstraction: Why the Managerial Class Loses Control of Software releases on April 8, 2025 and is available for preorder now from the retailers shown here, or anywhere else books are sold.
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Reviews & Endorsements
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A front row seat to the story of how, from PowerPoint to Boeing to AI chatbots, management is warping the power of technology into a dull extractor of profit. Compelling, urgent reading.
Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine and The One Device
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Smart and often funny, Campbell’s book is rich with unsparing detail, and offers a glimpse into a widespread problem that is surprising and urgent.
Kevin Nguyen, author of My Documents and New Waves and features editor at The Verge
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An electrifying and incisive book...exposes the forces rotting the core of today’s tech industry.
Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online and founder of User Mag
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Shows beyond a doubt that large corporations aren't equipped to understand the dangers of technology.
Cathy O’Neil, New York Times bestselling author of Weapons of Math Destruction and The Shame Machine
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In the spirit of Bad Blood and The Accidental Billionaires, Darryl Campbell pulls back the curtain on the mythology of Big Tech as infallible and software as savior.
Neal Thompson, author of The First Kennedys and A Curious Man
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The book serves as a call to action for tech workers who value humanity over profits and blind efficiency. Essential reading, especially in the age of generative AI.
Reid Southen, film industry concept artist and illustrator