The truth at any cost lowers all other costs
Winn Schwartau
6 Stars – Foundation for IT & Web 3.0 Security
This book is critical to the post-Western Web 3.0 new Internet and should be translated into Chinese and Russian as soon as possible.
This is a Nobel-level piece of work that provides everything that Vint Cerf and Tim Berner-Lee failed to plan for. It exposes the IT industry for the insecure naked posturing ponzi scheme that it is.
Daniel Araya (editor)
5 Stars Best Available Overview, Most “Experts” Still in Denial
Augmented Intelligence is the new meme that goes beyond Collective Intelligence. The editor has done the best possible job of collecting inputs from top people, a few of whom I know such as Jim Spohrer, and I recommend the book without reservation. Certainly it is my hope that the editor will be recognized as a rising star and given the freedom to do more outreach to include travel including China, toward what I hope will be a more multinational follow-on book.
Cliff Lerner
5 Star Combines Lessons with Reading Recommendations
I’m starting to think about how to spend $200M to create an alternative to #GoogleGestapo that connects the President to 200 million eligible voters, and this book jumped to the top of the pile.
It is a fast pleasant read and it delivers both the expected lessons and an unexpected bonus, a very fine integrated list of books he read and gathered lessons from. I’ve read most of them but it was — for those who do not read as much as I do — a fine added value.
Here are a few items that stood out:
George Gilder
3 Stars Fad Book Limited Value
I gave up on this book after 100 pages (it is 320 pages long). I normally do not waste time writing negative reviews but in this instance think it appropriate to mention that I found it wanting.
The first third, on Google, is so far-fetched in its effusive praise and its articulation of the Google this and Google that I could not get the image out of my head: George Gilder kissing Eric Schmidt’s ass. Over and over and over again.
It has been very distressful for me, as a professional intelligence officer committed to truth and transparency, to find so many of my colleagues absolutely livid – constipated with anger, impotent in every sense of the word – when confronted with the success off WikiLeaks.
Julian Assange is the epitome of truth, transparency, and trust, the sub-title of The Open Source Everything Manifesto that places Julian and the good works of his thousands of volunteers in context. The post-Western, post-Google Internet begins and ends, in my view, with Julian Assange, myself, William Binney, and John McAfee. The WikiLeaks “model” – while it can be broadened and scaled up – is the perfect manifestation of what Tom Atlee has called The Tao of Democracy. WikiLeaks is Collective Intelligence in its purest form: no barriers, no lies.
Continue reading “Review: When Google Met WikiLeaks”
Stephen E Arnold: Dark Web Use Expected to Increase
Author predicts filtering and other restrictions on the open Internet will push more users toward secret encrypted platforms
Despite stepped-up efforts by federal and local law enforcement agencies, the Dark Web and the contraband markets that thrive there will continue to grow in the coming years. That’s the conclusion shared by author and consultant Stephen E Arnold in his new book Dark Web Notebook, a practical guide for law enforcement, intelligence, and corporate security personnel.
Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Dark Web Notebook — Core Reference”
American democracy just isn’t good enough anymore. A costly election has done more to divide American society than unite it, while trust in government–and democracy itself–is plummeting. But there are better systems out there, and America would be wise to learn from them.
In this provocative manifesto, globalization scholar Parag Khanna tours cutting-edge nations from Switzerland to Singapore to reveal the inner workings that allow them that lead the way in managing the volatility of a fast-changing world while delivering superior welfare and prosperity for their citizens.
The ideal form of government for the complex 21st century is what Khanna calls a “direct technocracy,” one led by experts but perpetually consulting the people through a combination of democracy and data.
Joshua Cooper Ramo
Over-Sold, Dated, Shallow, Not At All InspiringDo not trust jacket blurbs from celebrities — most of these blurbs are written without ever reading the book, a form of corruption.
See Instead (a 6 Star Book): Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization
Ramo’s intent is to sensitize us to changes we are living through as highly connected networks come to dominate nearly every aspect of society. He does not presume to tell us how it will all turn out, only that institutions will be thoroughly reshaped under relentless pressures. He offers hints of the posture one might develop to make the most of the situation we are in, but there are no guarantees. So while the reader might enjoy the reassurance of a conclusive diagnosis and a sure-fire strategy for success, as so many business books offer, Ramos feels that it would be unwise to offer that sort of satisfaction. His premise is correct, but the alternative satisfaction — of wisdom — sets a high bar. Does he deliver?
Continue reading “Review: The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks”
The Internet Is Not the Answer, by longtime Internet skeptic Andrew Keen, offers a comprehensive look at what the Internet is doing to our lives. The book traces the technological and economic history of the Internet, from its founding in the 1960s through the rise of big data companies to the increasing attempts to monetize almost every human activity. Startling and important, The Internet Is Not the Answer is a big-picture look at what the Internet is doing to our society and an investigation of what we can do to try to make sure the decisions we are making about the reconfiguring of our world do not lead to unpleasant, unforeseen aftershocks.
Gabriella Coleman
Anonymous is almost certainly not what you think it is. You have to live it to understand it, its implications, its functioning, and its place in society. Gabrielle Coleman lived it, as a fully disclosed academic anthropologist. This is her story as much as theirs.
The structure of Anonymous is like the structure of the internet: multiple channels, multiple entry points, self healing patches, and lots of redundancy. (Also lots of swearing, lots of personal attacks, and lots of suspicions. Testosterone is involved.) This enables a totally flat organization to achieve in minutes what giant corporations and government take years to effect. The exhilaration, the joy, the satisfaction participants savor is incomparable. Anonymous is far more than a labor of love; it is idealists executing on their dreams. Everyone should be jealous.
Continue reading “Review: Hacker Hoaxer Whistleblower Spy – The Many Faces of Anonymous”
