George Gilder writes, “All wealth is the product of knowledge.” (p. 13) Gilder believes that GOOGLE will suffer the fate of most businesses as new knowledge emerges despite GOOGLE’s hiring of PhD.s and really, really smart people. Life After GOOGLE: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy provides both a cogent analysis of GOOGLE today and a fair guess about GOOGLE’s future.
In contrast to Gilder’s arguments, Andy Kessler writes “Can Bitcoin Save Us From GOOGLE” (you can find Kessler’s article here). Kessler points out the weaknesses of APPLE, AMAZON, FACEBOOK, and GOOGLE. APPLE lives in fear that one of the other low-cost smart phone producers will eat into its market share. AMAZON dominates retail, but will its forays into selling food (WHOLE FOODS) and drugs drag down profits. FACEBOOK struggles with privacy issues and subversion. Kessler says of these tech giants only GOOGLE dominates its space and has the resources to defend it. What do you think of GOOGLE? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Prologue: Back to the Future–The Ride xi
Chapter 1: Don’t Steal This Book 1
Chapter 2: Google’s System of the World 11
Chapter 3: Google’s Roots and Religions 25
Chapter 4: End of the Free World 37
Chapter 5: Ten Laws of the Cryptocosm 45
Chapter 6: Google’s Datacenter Coup 51
Chapter 7: Dally’s Parallel Paradigm 63
Chapter 8: Markov and Midas 75
Chapter 9: Life 3.0 93
Chapter 10: 1517 109
Chapter 11: The Heist 119
Chapter 12: Finding Satoshi 129
Chapter 13: Battle of the Blockchains 143
Chapter 14: Blockstack 159
Chapter 15: Taking Back the Net 171
Chapter 16: Brave Return of Brendan Eich 179
Chapter 17: Yuanfen 189
Chapter 18: The Rise of Sky Computing 199
Chapter 19: A Global Insurrection 213
Chapter 20: Neutering the Network 227
Chapter 21: The Empire Strikes Back 241
Chapter 22: The Bitcoin Flaw 247
Chapter 23: The Great Unbundling 257
Epilogue: The New System of the World 269
SOME TERMS OF ART AND INFORMATION FOR LIFE AFTER GOOGLE 277
BIBLIOGRAPHY 285
NOTES 293
INDEX 313
Way over my head. Economics is still my worst subject.
Patti, the bottom line is that tech companies are in for a rough ride in the next few years. Trump’s policies will accelerate the process.
But, they hired Patrick! They must be doing something right, right?
It’s hard to remember life without Google (or Wikipedia for me). I agree, I think Facebook has passed its peak and Mark Zuckerberg needs to get his house in order quickly (this Nazi/white supremacist decision was a disaster). I’m not worried about Amazon.
I have no predictions about Google’s future but at the moment I don’t think they’re in trouble. I know nothing about Bitcoin, nor do I have to care, so I won’t.
Jeff, you’re right about FACEBOOK. They face “hitting the Wall” with new subscribers. And between the Fake News problem and all the dangerous groups they give a platform to FACEBOOK’s fate is sealed. Patrick loves working for GOOGLE. He’s in London, England this week.
I guess if I understood how things like Bitcoin and blockchain and “mining” worked, I could give a thoughtful opinion, but I don’t see how “virtual” currency becomes “real” currency (although, as Kate Atkinson says in one of her Jackson Brodie novels, money is just an act of collective imagination in which we all agree what something is “worth”). I have read that if we lost the internet for three days, by day four we’d be in complete anarchy. THAT I can believe.
Me too, Deb! One good EMP and we are all in deep doo doo.
Jeff, our electric grid resembles a Rube Goldberg machine held together with Duct Tape!
Deb, you’re right about money being “an act of collective imagination.” After all, it’s just paper that we believe has a certain value (or digits in a bank or credit card account). Cut off electricity and/or water for four days and chaos would erupt!
Appreciate this happy thread, oh what a wonderful world we live in. Yes sir, everyone, let’s SMILE.
Now Tru(asshole)mp is doing away with the Endangered Species Act. Oh and undoing the EPA. I don’t give a hoot about Bitcoin and block chain, except the use of the electricity to datamine, leaving communities without power. But my god he is trying as hard as he can to KILL THE PLANET and it’s animal residents so he and his big business buddies can get richer. The tax bill was bad enough, but this shit is totally unconscionable.
Bah! Bah!
Grrrrr.
Rick, thousands of supercomputers are busy “mining” Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. Talk about a waste of electricity and computer time!
I just don’t understand why the GOP members of Congress are standing by with thumb in ear and not standing up to him.
Rick, I fear the Republicans are afraid of Trump. And, they want to “win” so they’re willing accomplices to his undemocratic shenanigans.
I think rather they are afraid of the voters who checked Trump’s name in the election.
Rick, sadly some people don’t see Trump as an agent of Russia.
Google sucks, and has sucked since they stopped supporting my version of Windows!
As for the book: YAWN!
George, your interview by Mark Levin was striking. Amazing and reassuring to witness such a thoughtful mind (and soul) as yours as you predict the technological leapfrog (as Levin put it) over the socialist barriers set by the current guardians of the flame, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and the central banks. It was an encouraging hour to be sure. They (the controlling tech and bankers) would have us believe we have plateaued in tech and finances and have only the singularity of computers and AI ahead of us.
I am not an economic student but instead a small Press owner, publisher, and writer who will try to incorporate some of your rational thinking about these concerns, into a couple of novels—one set in this country—the other in Europe—over the next couple years. Thank you for your clear mind and your willingness to share.
H. F. Clarke, good luck with your publishing and writing!