"Balancing individual freedoms and the common good is ever more critical in the velocity of today's technologically mediated world. Gasser and Mayer-Schönberger brilliantly illustrate that it is the ballast of societal guardrails, in their variety and agility--and not brittle technology--that can protect what we hold most dear: our rights, liberties, and values. This indispensable book is an essential primer for our uncertain present and for achieving a just, democratic future." --Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study "Where and how society ought to shape our individual decisions is a crucial issue for good governance as well as social justice and human well-being. Clear-eyed and gripping, this book offers a much-needed strategy to guide humanity's future." --Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation "Wise and fluent, erudite yet practical, this remarkable book provides us with a greatly heightened appreciation of the social context in which decisions are and ought to be made in the digital age. As we move into the second quarter of the twenty-first century, an era of uncertainty and fragility, Guardrails should move to the top of the pile on all bedside tables.

" --Richard Susskind, author of Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future "A delightfully wide-ranging and eminently readable exploration of how laws, norms, technology, and our own thinking guide our behavior, and how we should think about it." --Mark Lemley, Stanford University " Guardrails is a timely contribution to both the theory and practice of governance at a critical moment in history as a diverse international community is discussing various guidelines and standards for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence to the benefit of all people and our planet." --Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union.