A Hidden Gem
Often, I will find an excellent book at the Dollar Store. A "remainder," or so I'm told.
Such was the case the other day... I found this book:
The New Digital Age (Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business) 2013
by Eric Schmidt, Google Executive, and Jared Cohen, also a Google Executive and prolific author.
This book is "upbeat" and makes one feel good about the technological future of the U.S. Obviously, it was written BDT (before Donald Trump and his sick view of the current state of the Country and his depressing thoughts and twitterings about the "great again" future.
The book has comprehensive notes and an extensive index. My question is: Why is this book being sold for one dollar?
Some of the words that intrigued or even excited me at times:
Information systems will streamline many (tasks) for people all over the world. "... washing, drying, folding, pressing and sorting (and keeping) an inventory of clean clothes and algorithmically suggesting outfits based on the user's daily schedule. Haircuts will finally be automated and machine-precise. And cell phones, tablets and laptops will have wireless recharging capabilities, rendering the need to fiddle with charging cables an obsolete nuisance."
Wonderful things are already happening. They mention the twenty-four year old Kenyan Inventor Anthony Mutua, who unveiled at a 2012 Nairobi science fair an ultrathin crystal chip he developed that can generate electricity when put under pressure...and when placed in a shoe can charge a mobile phone as one walks.
"Contemporary services like Spotify, which offers a large catalog of live-streaming music for free, give us a sense of what the future will look like: an endless amount of content, available anytime, on almost any device, and at little or no cost to users, with copyrights and revenue streams preserved."
Caveat: "Since information wants to be free, don't write anything down you don't want to have read back to you in court or printed on a front page of a newspaper, as the saying goes. In the future, this adage will broaden to include not just what you say and write, but the websites you visit, who you include in your online network, what you 'like' and what others who are connected to you do, say and share."
Problem: "Astroturfing" obtaining fake grassroots participation. Used by public relations firms, advertising agencies, and election campaigns.
This is not new. Opera composers have been known to fill audiences with folks who applaud and yell "Bravo!" at their performances. Sometimes these people were there to "Boo" the work of other composers. (Was this type of thing used in the campaign conventions this year?)
Interesting: North Koreans can now access a propaganda intranet for which they are "encouraged" to pay using euros!
Read the book. These guys have spent three years in active research for this book, and their lifetimes working in the information technology field.
Finally: "The best thing anyone can do to improve the quality of life around the world is to drive connectivity and technological opportunity. When given the access, the people will do the rest...
We cannot eliminate inequality or abuse of power, but through technological inclusion we can help transfer power into the hands of individual people and trust that they will take it from there. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it."
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These guys have said the words that I wanted to say back in 1974, when I created Niemand Associates and provided access of computer professionals at the Social Security Administration to the thinking of technologists like these two Google men.
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