Review (DVD): The Social Network

I was very glad to have a chance to see this movie on an airplane, and it was everything others had led me to believe. For myself, it captured the essence of what Peter Drucker calls the mono-maniac. I found the over-all blend of academic banality, personal eccentricities and genius, inter-personal egos and intentions, and the final financial settlements to be totally engrossing.

In many ways I consider Facebook to be the anti-thesis of Google; the first is earnest and personal despite some warts, and a self-made network–the second is secretive, mathematical, went corporate, and lost its soul in the process–as well as its direction.

I've been an honorary hacker since 1994 and have long valued my hacker friends in Europe, in Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) and in the Silicon Valley Hacker Conference. Facebook was a marvelous hack at a totally new level–it combined code hacks with social engineering to create a complete environmental and community network hack.

In many ways I consider Facebook to be the anti-thesis of Google; the first is earnest and personal despite some warts, and a self-made network–the second is secretive, mathematical, went corporate, and lost its soul in the process–as well as its direction.

Facebook is a righteous hack, Google is not….IMHO.

Below are some other DVDs and a few books that I recommend, strictly as samplers in four key areas. My other 1600+ reviews are better accessed at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, and searching there for <hackers> without the brackets yields a great deal.

Hackers (not the same as social network builders)
Hackers
Hackers – Wizards of the Electronic Age
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution – 25th Anniversary Edition
The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier

Wealth of Open Networks
Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age

Social Networking
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Revolution–The Meek Shall Inherit
The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe