Facebook friends, have you grown weary of books that fail to challenge your assumptions and expand your imagination? Whether you are a conservative or a liberal, have you ever craved a fresh point of view and instead ended up with a book written by a crank or just someone out to make a buck telling people what they want to hear, confirming the biases they already have? Crave no further – read “Who Owns the Future?” by renowned technologist (and hippie musician) Jaron Lanier. Lanier was “there” as the internet and hypertext linking were invented – as well as the mouse and the graphical user interface. He is one of the original net hackers and free-thinking weirdoes who truly does not care who he ticks off (remind you of someone?). He is known for expressing thoughts that offend both liberals and conservatives equally. Fundamentally, he favors individual liberty and acknowledges free market capitalism as the best means of preserving freedom. At the same time, he recognizes the dangerous long-term problems of free markets operating without the political structure necessary to create and maintain a viable middle class. Lanier posits that global automation and the rising information-based economy are so swiftly changing the rules of commerce that politics has failed to keep up, and we are now witnessing a potentially fatal hollowing out of our economy through the permanent extinction of middle class jobs. But this is not a doomsday tome! Lanier methodically examines several ways of solving this problem and shows the pros and cons of each. If you have an interest in economics, internet technology, politics, the future, or you just want something thought-provoking and fresh to wrap your mind around, read this book. amazon/Who-Owns-the-Future-ebook/dp/B008J2AEY8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 07:02:02 +0000
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