From Gutenberg to Google

The History of Our Future

De: Tom Wheeler

Narrado por: Brian Troxell

Network revolutions of the past have shaped the present and set the stage for the revolution we are experiencing today

In an era of seemingly instant change, it's easy to think that today's revolutions - in communications, business, and many areas of daily life - are unprecedented. Today's changes may be new and may be happening faster than ever before. But our ancestors at times were just as bewildered by rapid upheavals in what we now call “networks” - the physical links that bind any society together.

In this fascinating book, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler brings to life the two great network revolutions of the past and uses them to help put in perspective the confusion, uncertainty, and even excitement most people face today. The first big network revolution was the invention of movable-type printing in the 15th century. This book, its millions of predecessors, and even such broad trends as the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the multiple scientific revolutions of the past 500 years would not have been possible without that one invention. The second revolution came with the invention of the telegraph early in the 19th century. Never before had people been able to communicate over long distances faster than a horse could travel. Along with the development of the world's first high-speed network - the railroad - the telegraph upended centuries of stability and literally redrew the map of the world.

Wheeler puts these past revolutions into the perspective of today, when rapid-fire changes in networking are upending the nature of work, personal privacy, education, the media, and nearly every other aspect of modern life. But he doesn't leave it there. Outlining “What's Next”, he describes how artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, and the need for cybersecurity are laying the foundation for a third network revolution.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Tom Wheeler (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

combination of books

I recommend also listening to "It Came From Something Awful " if you listen to this book. The connections and insight that the combination of books impart could be quite helpful in this technological world.

3rd revolution - History, Challenges, Opportunitie

I liked this book.

A survey course (a technological travelog) of the technologies and their business and social impacts (Guttenberg's Printing Press) and Railroad/Telegraph and the ongoing third revolution (A.I., World Wide Web 3.0 and CyberSecurity as examples).

Wheeler's premise is that (in 2018) we were beginning (or within) the third great information revolution concerning information processing and transfer.

First related to Guttenberg - which after the development of moveable type - allowed printing for the masses - within 50 years more books had been printed than had been copied by monks. This diffusion of knowledge - assisted Martin Luther in getting his message out - and helped the ideas of the Renaissance spread.

Second related to Railroads and Telegraph - in the U.S. creating one continent wide market to move physical good and people (Railroad) and then information (Telegraph and then later Telephone) - the impacts of this allowed the creation of one national market for goods - larger lot sizes - reduced costs per unit - prices to be reduced - increasing volume - leading to a more volume and etc.
These change had impacts on where people worked (initially the farm; then during this change - move toward centralization into factories and offices and the creation of very large corporations).

Third relates to the information system - Computers, High Speed Networks/Software. Especially interested in this retelling - with 'blurbs' about Turing, Mauchley & Eckhardt, Claude Shannon, Babbage and etc., all made contributions to the theory and practice of information processing. As the previous revolution (above) allowed resources/power to be centralized - this revolution will move 'power' to the edge of the network [individual people can consume, create and distribute content] while creating a few large companies in the Social Media business [Google, Facebook and etc.]

Wheeler talks about the issues of the day - -but his advice centers on what was said to AT&T employees ..."The most basic right of employees is to be prepared for the future.." in this context the employees were advised to invest between 5 to 10 hours a week retooling their skill set for the future.

Wheeler ends optimistically - indicating that "we've been through this before" - with other information revolutions - the dislocations - misinformation - major changes in society - but we "come through them" - advises each individual to prepare - for the changed, challenging but 'better life'.

Carl Gallozzi
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