Data Empire (2026)

Data has shaped empires throughout history, and it continues to shape our future. From targeted advertising and mass surveillance to the algorithmic state, this book explores how information gained the power to influence the course of our lives. Roopika Risam takes readers back 11,000 years, to the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia, where rulers pressed marks into clay to keep track of land, people and grain. The first written name in human history was not a god or a king, but an accountant. As ships and navigation expanded European horizons, colonial censuses, maps and ledgers helped empires decide who belonged, who owed and who could be sacrificed. Today, a handful of private brokers increasingly influence what we see and what is considered real. Moving from ancient cave markings and knotted strings to the algorithmic state, Risam, a Dartmouth professor, shows how data has long been a technology of control that shapes civilisations and upholds empires. This sweeping and humane history asks whether new data empires will hardwire inequality into the next century, or whether technology can serve democracy rather than replace it.