hjjansen's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of ideas here, but many of them are speculative at best without much to back them up. The writing is a little wooden, too, which makes this book more of a slog to get through than it should.
barrysweezey's review against another edition
A million thoughts about how connectivity and mass data storage will affect our relations with the state through terrorism, revolution, war, and reconstruction. States will use them for good things, but also to control and oppress us, and we'll use them to fight back.
marystevens's review against another edition
3.0
Forecast of the dangers and opportunities of the future posed by technology. I was annoyed by the focus on anodyne utopias for the wealthy and the intellectually gifted. What's to become of the Average Joe and Jane? What is the future technology brings for the poor (beyond internet connectedness)?
barry_sweezey's review against another edition
A million thoughts about how connectivity and mass data storage will affect our relations with the state through terrorism, revolution, war, and reconstruction. States will use them for good things, but also to control and oppress us, and we'll use them to fight back.
evolvemind's review against another edition
4.0
An information-dense analysis of how current technological, cultural, and political trends may interact and play out in the future. A must-read for futurists, political scientists, sociologists, defense specialists, technologists, and anyone interested in quality of life in the coming era.
coreyzerna's review
2.0
Partly reads like a tech com achievements presentation, partly an Internet-for-dummies-of-the-future edition, partly a how-to manual for future cyber terrorists/bullies/despots .... didn't feel like there was any real revelations in this book and its authors more than a little too idealistic about just how connected the poor masses will be in the future
rgombert's review
3.0
An interesting book.
Sad to see that it is already dated.
It seems that this was used by the ruling party as a play book to build the current dystopian regime.
Sad to see that it is already dated.
It seems that this was used by the ruling party as a play book to build the current dystopian regime.
betsychadwell's review
2.0
[22 April 2020]
I bought this book when it first came out in 2013, but just got around to reading it. Not as dated as you might think considering it purports to predict what's going to happen with respect to technology in the future. But the authors are not talking about gadget technology. No flying cars, or virtual reality, or robots (except in war). Instead they talk about what happens to societies and people because of the expansion of the internet and communications technology. In effect, they say there will be two realities, the physical reality we've been dealing with for thousands of years and the virtual reality that is just becoming widespread. They talk about the ways the two realities will conflict with and complement each other, and the ways that people and entities, especially governments, will have to learn to deal with both of them. It's not really a hopeful future they see. More connection, but much less privacy. More possibility of activism, but more repression. I don't know enough about any of it to judge the accuracy of their predictions, but it was a moderately interesting read and pretty short.
I bought this book when it first came out in 2013, but just got around to reading it. Not as dated as you might think considering it purports to predict what's going to happen with respect to technology in the future. But the authors are not talking about gadget technology. No flying cars, or virtual reality, or robots (except in war). Instead they talk about what happens to societies and people because of the expansion of the internet and communications technology. In effect, they say there will be two realities, the physical reality we've been dealing with for thousands of years and the virtual reality that is just becoming widespread. They talk about the ways the two realities will conflict with and complement each other, and the ways that people and entities, especially governments, will have to learn to deal with both of them. It's not really a hopeful future they see. More connection, but much less privacy. More possibility of activism, but more repression. I don't know enough about any of it to judge the accuracy of their predictions, but it was a moderately interesting read and pretty short.
gregotto's review
2.0
If you follow tech, this is outdated by now. Alot of this isnt new or has already become reality.