A THREAD on thought provoking ideas shared in the book "The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age" by James Dale Davidson:
1/
The cybereconomy, rather than China, could well be the greatest economic phenomenon of the next thirty years.
1/
The cybereconomy, rather than China, could well be the greatest economic phenomenon of the next thirty years.
2/
Faster than all but a few now imagine, microprocessing will subvert and destroy the nation-state, creating new forms of social organization in the process.
Faster than all but a few now imagine, microprocessing will subvert and destroy the nation-state, creating new forms of social organization in the process.
3/
Market forces, not political majorities, will compel societies to reconfigure themselves in ways that public opinion will neither comprehend nor welcome.
Market forces, not political majorities, will compel societies to reconfigure themselves in ways that public opinion will neither comprehend nor welcome.
4/
When technology is mobile, and transactions occur in cyberspace, as they increasingly will do, governments will no longer be able to charge more for their services than they are worth to the people who pay for them.
When technology is mobile, and transactions occur in cyberspace, as they increasingly will do, governments will no longer be able to charge more for their services than they are worth to the people who pay for them.
5/
Governments will ultimately have little choice but to treat populations in territories they serve more like customers, and less in the easy that organized criminals treat the victims of a shakedown racket.
Governments will ultimately have little choice but to treat populations in territories they serve more like customers, and less in the easy that organized criminals treat the victims of a shakedown racket.
6/
The more apparent it is that a system is nearing an end, the more reluctant people will be to adhere to its laws.
The more apparent it is that a system is nearing an end, the more reluctant people will be to adhere to its laws.
7/
The Don Quixote of the twenty-first century will not be a knight-errant struggling to revive the glories of feudalism but a bureaucrat in a brown suit, a tax collector yearning for a citizen to audit.
The Don Quixote of the twenty-first century will not be a knight-errant struggling to revive the glories of feudalism but a bureaucrat in a brown suit, a tax collector yearning for a citizen to audit.
8/
We live in the time of the computer, but our dreams are still spun on the loom.
We live in the time of the computer, but our dreams are still spun on the loom.
9/
The capacity to mass-produce books was incredibly subversive to medieval institutions, just as microtechnology will prove subversive to the modern nation-state.
The capacity to mass-produce books was incredibly subversive to medieval institutions, just as microtechnology will prove subversive to the modern nation-state.
10/
Understanding Agricultural Revolution is a first step towards understanding Information Revolution. The introduction of tilling & harvesting provides a paradigm example of how an apparently simple shift in the character of work can radically alter the organization of society
Understanding Agricultural Revolution is a first step towards understanding Information Revolution. The introduction of tilling & harvesting provides a paradigm example of how an apparently simple shift in the character of work can radically alter the organization of society
11/
The nation-state will devolve like an unwieldy conglomerate, but probably not before it is forced to do so by financial crises.
The nation-state will devolve like an unwieldy conglomerate, but probably not before it is forced to do so by financial crises.
12/
In the Information Society, no one who is truly able will be detained by the ill-formed opinions of others.
It will not matter what most of the people on earth might think of your race, your looks, your age, your sexual proclivities, or the way you wear your hair.
In the Information Society, no one who is truly able will be detained by the ill-formed opinions of others.
It will not matter what most of the people on earth might think of your race, your looks, your age, your sexual proclivities, or the way you wear your hair.
13/
In the cybereconomy, they will never see you.
The ugly, the fat, the old, the disabled will vie with the young and beautiful on equal terms in utterly color-blind anonymity on the new frontiers of cyberspace.
In the cybereconomy, they will never see you.
The ugly, the fat, the old, the disabled will vie with the young and beautiful on equal terms in utterly color-blind anonymity on the new frontiers of cyberspace.
14/
For the first time, those who can educate and motivate themselves will be almost entirely free to invent their own work and realize the full benefits of their own productivity.
For the first time, those who can educate and motivate themselves will be almost entirely free to invent their own work and realize the full benefits of their own productivity.
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