The last century was marked by the myth of technology and speed. In the Manifesto of Futurism of 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti announced: "We affirm that the magnificence of the world has been enriched by a new beauty, the beauty of speed". Every technological innovation was hailed as a human prodigy, capable of improving the world and helping to free man. Between the 1960s and 1970s, with the development of computers and early digital technologies, it became common opinion among analysts that in the space of a short time we would all be part of a single global village, free from the burden of work and with much more time to devote to ourselves. Economists theorized that by the new millennium, men, at least in Western societies, would work no more than fifteen hours a week. It is clear that something has gone wrong and not by little.

Compared to previous generations, not only are we not working less, but we are subjected to doses of stress unknown to workers of the past. What happened? That technological progress has put humanity at a crossroads and the way forward has been decided without consulting the citizens and without any debate. Although this was a fundamental decision for the development of the planet. We found ourselves at the point where working all eight hours a day was no longer necessary, because machines could be part of man's work. It was therefore possible to decide to work all less, distributing the benefits of automation even downwards of the pyramid and going in the direction of a system with more free time for all with the same material wealth, or you could choose to continue to make people work as and more than before, even overloading it with the stress given by the need to constantly control more devices , all to ensure that the benefits of automation went exclusively into the pockets of a few very rich men. This second path has been chosen and its most obvious fruits, to date, are the names and faces of a few principles of the digital economy and the growing economic inequality that affects the world.

At the crossroads, a clear path was taken: technology was not put at the service of man, but of capitalism. On the other hand, any development which could have reduced man's efforts has been used to increase the profit of the few who possess the means of production. It wasn't inevitable, it was a choice.

Above all, for this reason, today of technological development we know the dark and most insidious sides. In the world of work, there is a war going on between men and machines. Amazon's warehouses, practically entirely automated, have to employ very few men compared to how much it would have taken even 20 years ago to move the same huge amount of goods.