The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business
Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen
The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business
From technologies that will change lives (information systems that greatly increase productivity, safety and our quality of life, thought-controlled motion technology that can revolutionise medical procedures, and near-perfect translation technology that allows us to have more diversified interactions) to our most important future considerations (curating our online identity and fighting those who would do harm with it) to the widespread political change that will transform the globe (through transformations in conflict, increasingly active and global citizenries, a new wave of cyber-terrorism and states operating simultaneously in the physical and virtual realms) to the ever present threats to our privacy and security, Schmidt and Cohen outline in great detail and scope all the promise and peril awaiting us in the coming decades.
3.2 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Technology, Society, Politics & Philosophy |
| Format |
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| Pages |
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| RRP |
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| Date of Publication |
April 2013 |
| ISBN |
978-1848546202 |
| Publisher |
John Murray |
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From technologies that will change lives (information systems that greatly increase productivity, safety and our quality of life, thought-controlled motion technology that can revolutionise medical procedures, and near-perfect translation technology that allows us to have more diversified interactions) to our most important future considerations (curating our online identity and fighting those who would do harm with it) to the widespread political change that will transform the globe (through transformations in conflict, increasingly active and global citizenries, a new wave of cyber-terrorism and states operating simultaneously in the physical and virtual realms) to the ever present threats to our privacy and security, Schmidt and Cohen outline in great detail and scope all the promise and peril awaiting us in the coming decades.
Reviews
The Daily Telegraph
Matt Warman
“… this is a book for people who want to read a book about the internet, rather than those who truly understand “digital” ... It is, however, a clear and thorough thesis suggesting that the world we are forging with the web is a better one than we have at the moment.”
29/04/2013
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The Times
Bryan Appleyard
“Hard to read as it may be, this is an important book, partly as an account of what may happen, but mainly as a picture of the present mind-set of Silicon Valley. As such, its undeniable seriousness is undercut by a touch of parochialism and a lot of, perhaps unconscious, intellectual confusion, primarily hinging on that issue of the neutrality or otherwise of the technology. Read but never forget that Google wants not just to sell you stuff but also to make sure you have no choice but to buy.”
28/04/2013
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The Financial Times
Richard Waters
“Schmidt and Cohen are right to point to the disruptive effects of a pervasive new communications medium such as the internet either to liberate or to destabilise, depending on which side of the fence you are on. But attempts by states to exert their control over the virtual world have only just begun. As the internet’s influence spreads into more aspects of life, those efforts are guaranteed to increase. It is far too soon to predict how this story will turn out.”
25/04/2013
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The New York Times
Janet Maslin
“Despite dry, dense prose and occasional weird misfires (will it be joyous or heartbreaking to watch holographic home movies, to have the dead visit your living room?), The New Digital Age throws off many worthwhile provocations ... The most frightening and important sections deal with the futures of war and terrorism, and it is here that the authors sound most assured.”
25/04/2013
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The Observer
John Naughton
“Each chapter goes into relentless, almost mind-numbing detail, which leads one to guess that the first drafts were the product of teams of those smart, endlessly obliging Ivy League interns who are filling in time before becoming Fulbright or Rhodes scholars. The thoroughness is — to use a sophomore cliche — awesome, but the level of detail sits awkwardly with the incessant use of the word "will" in places where more seasoned analysts would put "could" or even "might" ... there is one glaring omission from Schmidt's and Cohen's vision of the future: the phenomenon of corporate power.”
28/04/2013
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