The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
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- Author：James Dale Davidson
- ISBN：0684832720
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Summary
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the bestseller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century。
The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization。
Few observers of the late twentieth century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg。 Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday。 In their ensuing bestseller， The Great Reckoning， published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev， they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years。
In The Sovereign Individual， Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries—the shift from an industrial to an information-based society。 This transition， which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society，" will liberate individuals as never before， irrevocably altering the power of government。 This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values。
The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization。
Few observers of the late twentieth century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg。 Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday。 In their ensuing bestseller， The Great Reckoning， published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev， they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years。
In The Sovereign Individual， Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries—the shift from an industrial to an information-based society。 This transition， which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society，" will liberate individuals as never before， irrevocably altering the power of government。 This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values。
Reviews
James
，
Chapter 1 : 5/5Remainder: 3/5 - see highlights throughout
Rodopa
，
This book is worth the read （but do ignore the irritating moralizing， and lack of good editing） because of its central， brilliant observation。The most important idea， the "signal" in this book is the idea that the internet and its derivative technologies will un-shackle the humanity from the "tyranny of place。" Their contention is that we are entering an era where "place" does not matter and the consequences are and will be tectonic。 Everything will be affected by the migration to a non-territor This book is worth the read （but do ignore the irritating moralizing， and lack of good editing） because of its central， brilliant observation。The most important idea， the "signal" in this book is the idea that the internet and its derivative technologies will un-shackle the humanity from the "tyranny of place。" Their contention is that we are entering an era where "place" does not matter and the consequences are and will be tectonic。 Everything will be affected by the migration to a non-territorial/physical space - politics， nations， relationships， self-identity， group-identity， etc。 Read to form your own conclusions。Why should we pay attention to these authors and their ideas？ They did foresee the development of a lot of technology at a time when most thought it was science fiction。 Will they also be correct about the implication of the technology for society， for community， for work？ Why we need to listen to them - authors published this in 1997 （therefore it was probably written in 1996） - for context， in 1997， Netscape/IE 5 were the browsers， Ask Jeeves was a search engine while Google had not been released。 Wi-Fi did not exist， laptops were not a thing， music was listen to on CD roms， Dial-up modems were the only available way to connect。 Given all this it is unimaginable what the authors were able to deduct will come to be。From what they knew at that time about digital technology and from other transitions in history， they deducted the immense growth of internet commerce to the tune of the following1。 You would carry your phone with you （phones were used as your dial up modem connection）2。 Your phone， TV and computer will become one device （laptops were not a thing let alone smart phones）3。 TV entertainment and news will die and be replaced by on demand entertainment and news4。 News will be customized to your interests/political leanings5。 You will be able to work from anywhere in the world （only really gaining full force now after the pandemic， where everyone in the world at the same time understood that it is possible now）6。 You will be able to bank， invest， get a medical diagnosis from anywhere（that was not available at a time for security reasons） 7。 Search for any type of service or info from the comfort of your home and get the service or info in minutes （Google was not released yet）8。 Instantaneous language translation （Google translate and other apps）And so on。。。too many to list but this is an impressive list。。。Will their predictions of the waning role of citizenship and the rise of power of online communities （and what that means for the nation state） come to pass？ It is already under way as activist driven campaigns organized online have a much stronger effect than many would have predicted。 。。。more
Adam Georgiou
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Probably prescient， but a few things lose this book a star or two for me:1。 There's a skewed moral undertone: the author seems to imply that the predicted thriving of sovereign individuals is not only inevitable， but right。 Which very well might be the case， but at the same time the book has no problem writing off all the "left behinds" as a calculated externality， neither right nor wrong， just part of the physics of the thing， no more good or bad than inertia。To me， a better book would either （ Probably prescient， but a few things lose this book a star or two for me:1。 There's a skewed moral undertone: the author seems to imply that the predicted thriving of sovereign individuals is not only inevitable， but right。 Which very well might be the case， but at the same time the book has no problem writing off all the "left behinds" as a calculated externality， neither right nor wrong， just part of the physics of the thing， no more good or bad than inertia。To me， a better book would either （a） make the prediction with more academic precision， and describe the results， critically and dispassionately （which would be a much shorter book）; or （b） go ahead and make the moral case， as they've done for the terror of taxes and the suffering of those afflicted， but also have empathy for the other human players， no matter their role — the winners and the losers。 The lack of consideration for those folks makes me suspicious of a further lack of consideration or thought in the rest of the books arguments， which one goes on to find:2。 The book assumes a pigeon holed type of humanity that's robotic and totally concerned with nothing but profits。 I have no problem with libertarian ideals and I have no problem with an interest in profits。 But one's argument can't rely on a hypothetical person that has no ties to family or home。 "The Sovereign Individual" apparently will be willing and able to pick up and leave all national jurisdictions with zero marginal cost， so apparently none of these people have had an infirm parent or children that prefer to keep their friends？ At a more glacial scale， slow and large， the argument makes more sense。 Digital nomads might migrate once or even twice in their lives， and that's more than enough of a trend to cause a long-term effect。 I'd move to Bermuda for 50 million， but what if then Bermuda then became corrupt？ Would you move to Bermuda， then Cyprus， then New Zealand， then an oil rig in the middle of the pacific for 50 million？ If the sovereign individuals are the only ones capitalized， smart getting smarter， what stops them from permeating the world as the rent seekers the Author's make current governments out to be？2a。 They argue that nationalism and patriotism are anachronistic， but also claim that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket because no one is religious or morally cohesive anymore。 And somehow， the digital nomads are going to simultaneously continue on the path of amoral agnosticism （i。e。 no attachment） that allows them to transcend boarders， but also they're going to rebuild religious and interpersonal ties that bind them together。 Cosmopolitan dogmatists？ The author seems to see no issue with the oxymoron。3。 "Everything will go digital" and the information economy will be the only relevant economy。 What about farming？ Live concerts？ Skiing？ Golf？ Waste management？ Energy production？ 25 years after publication it's clear that a lot of information is now digital， but what about the products that were never information？ And so if at least some of his "stuff" has to stay productive in the physical world， doesn't that at least dilute the thesis a bit？ The book seems to hyper-focus on everything going digital， with no consideration for the things that won't， or that'll go way， way slowly。Anyway， a few thoughts。 。。。more
Jose CruzyCelis
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Not sure how often a book has come which has predicted so much stuff with so much accuracy 20 years into the future。 It felt like reading some prophets of our time。 It's hard to think that they got lucky with their thesis。 Which roughly boils down to: The changes in society come from changes in the mechanisms for exercising violence。 This very general statement has far reaching implications in politics， economics， morality and life in general。 Roughly divided into 3 sections， from 1000 to 1500 C Not sure how often a book has come which has predicted so much stuff with so much accuracy 20 years into the future。 It felt like reading some prophets of our time。 It's hard to think that they got lucky with their thesis。 Which roughly boils down to: The changes in society come from changes in the mechanisms for exercising violence。 This very general statement has far reaching implications in politics， economics， morality and life in general。 Roughly divided into 3 sections， from 1000 to 1500 Church as the authority， from 1500 to 1980 the Nation-State as the authority and 1980 onwards the rise of the Sovereign Individual。 These 3 stages share the common denominator of having been determined by fundamental advances of technology which changed the way violence was exercised。 The printing press along with gunpowder helped reshift the power dynamics of the church and along with it a change in the monopoly of knowledge， property rights， taxes， morality， etc。 A similar thing is happening with information technology and encryption where around 1980 onwards society began a transformation in the way people could educate themselves， trade， claim ownership， etc。 A time where currency is slipping away from the control of governments and along with this a new financial system is being built。 Along with this all the promises that the cypherpunks and crypto ecosystem is promising is predicted in the book and seems to be happening at this moment。 This book really convinced me and made me a full convert on the power of crypto and IT to take us into a next stage of our human society， where the nation-states will decrease dramatically in power and decentralization will permeate a huge amount of industries， services and institutions。 A change that is happening right now and will probably happen faster than we are anticipating it。 。。。more
beingCristina
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The history says it all， the future is here and now; Not tomorrow。
jt
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Deeply evil， sometimes correct， more often bizarro。
Richard Zhu
，
In large part， they were directionally right about certain trends。 Reading it in 1999 might have enabled you to predict the rise of precision news， Trump， and even cryptocurrencies。 This book is rightfully part of the crypto canon， because the conclusions challenge so much of the unspoken axioms society takes for granted （democracy as the end of history， returns to violence as a key metric， 。。。）Worth reading especially for the methodology and thought process。Still， I'm convinced extrapolation an In large part， they were directionally right about certain trends。 Reading it in 1999 might have enabled you to predict the rise of precision news， Trump， and even cryptocurrencies。 This book is rightfully part of the crypto canon， because the conclusions challenge so much of the unspoken axioms society takes for granted （democracy as the end of history， returns to violence as a key metric， 。。。）Worth reading especially for the methodology and thought process。Still， I'm convinced extrapolation and prediction is a fools' errand， made easier by the fact that among many low-p predictions， a few of them will come true in time。 Most importantly， getting things right isn't the thing that matters， it's getting them right at the right time。 You might have YOLO'd on PayPal's IPO in 2002， fully convinced that this was the "cybermoney" realization spoken of in this book。。。 but Bitcoin would come out nearly a decade later。Moreover， I disagree fundamentally with the analysis that "Sovereign Individuals" will flood to low-tax jurisdictions。 The opportunity cost of moving to a low-tax regime can often be offset by the community， infrastructure of high-tax places。。 JDD cites that democracy triumphed over socialism because in explicitly laying hold to less property， it harnessed incentives so that the total take was greater。 In much the same way， is it not possible for high-tax places to have such generative moats that the total output after taxation is higher than compounding for years in a low-tax place？ 。。。more
Andrew
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A most generative （if， in retrospect， not entirely accurate） account of the collapse。。。
Lokesh Dhakar
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Mind opening。 Interesting framing of recent history and lots of bold predictions of where we are headed next。 In particular， the idea that large megapolitical transformations are almost entirely an effect of technological revolutions， and not caused by the politics or culture of the time， and that these transformations have accelerated and will now occur during a single lifetime。 So maybe the US as I know it won't be around later in my life！？Though the authors' viewpoints are contentious and not Mind opening。 Interesting framing of recent history and lots of bold predictions of where we are headed next。 In particular， the idea that large megapolitical transformations are almost entirely an effect of technological revolutions， and not caused by the politics or culture of the time， and that these transformations have accelerated and will now occur during a single lifetime。 So maybe the US as I know it won't be around later in my life！？Though the authors' viewpoints are contentious and not always sold well， the book is worth a read to consider this possible future。 。。。more
Anders Nielsen
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One of the books， that I wished I would have read， when I was young。 It's incredible how good their predictions have been towards digitisation， crypto currency， nation states going bankrupt etc。 We are only still really seeing the beginning of the changes they describe and in some areas nation states has been able to stay on top。 But there's also for sure a lot of places， where nation status are hurting from these changes。 According to authors， this will just get worse。 It for sure is interestin One of the books， that I wished I would have read， when I was young。 It's incredible how good their predictions have been towards digitisation， crypto currency， nation states going bankrupt etc。 We are only still really seeing the beginning of the changes they describe and in some areas nation states has been able to stay on top。 But there's also for sure a lot of places， where nation status are hurting from these changes。 According to authors， this will just get worse。 It for sure is interesting times 。。。more
Gerbz
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Incredible history lesson and truly prophetic predictions， I just don't see their underlying thesis of microprossors subverting the nation state playing out they way they see。 Had a good chat about the book on the TMBA pod https://bitlift。co/TMBA594 Incredible history lesson and truly prophetic predictions， I just don't see their underlying thesis of microprossors subverting the nation state playing out they way they see。 Had a good chat about the book on the TMBA pod https://bitlift。co/TMBA594 。。。more
Francisco Alvarado
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The future will be confusing
Josh Yeary
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Presents some thought provoking ideas。 Get's a bit crazy towards the end。 Presents some thought provoking ideas。 Get's a bit crazy towards the end。 。。。more
Adel
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Informative
Miguel
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The authors essentially make up a forecast based on historical narratives， sometimes interpreted in a very self serving way。 Overall， this book is deterministic， barely acknowledges how difficult prediction is， and even plays fast and loose with scientific and historical facts。 Random ‘facts’ and statistics are quoted without a source and claimed as truth。 A good example of this is the authors claiming the top 1% in the US pay too much taxes。 On what basis？ According to whom？ None of that seems The authors essentially make up a forecast based on historical narratives， sometimes interpreted in a very self serving way。 Overall， this book is deterministic， barely acknowledges how difficult prediction is， and even plays fast and loose with scientific and historical facts。 Random ‘facts’ and statistics are quoted without a source and claimed as truth。 A good example of this is the authors claiming the top 1% in the US pay too much taxes。 On what basis？ According to whom？ None of that seems to be relevant， as this statement fits their narrative。 There may be some interesting thoughts and questions in it， but overall it is unreadable。 。。。more
Josh Kanownik
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I just read The Sovereign Individual and The People's History of the United States back to back and felt a comparison between the two was the best way to review them。 Both books have more in common that one would expect。 Both are extremely biased towards their viewpoints。 Both dismiss the current dominant political parties in the US as more similar to each other than different。 Both think current political leaders are severely lacking and yearn for governments that work better for the people tha I just read The Sovereign Individual and The People's History of the United States back to back and felt a comparison between the two was the best way to review them。 Both books have more in common that one would expect。 Both are extremely biased towards their viewpoints。 Both dismiss the current dominant political parties in the US as more similar to each other than different。 Both think current political leaders are severely lacking and yearn for governments that work better for the people that they support。 Both were written over 20 years ago and recently received updated modern introductions。 The Sovereign Individual's updated introduction has Peter Thiel asking the reader to focus on what the authors got right over what they got wrong。 That gets harder and harder to do as time goes by。 The authors point to Hong Kong as the country of the future， spend a lot of time talking about Clinton having Vincent Foster murdered and they definitely weren't talking about the rise of Dogecoin when they talk about digital currency。 They make some interesting points but it is so hard to separate those amongst the piles and piles of unsupported libertarian evangilism。 If you took any chapter from this book and submitted it as a college essay you'd be lucky to get a C。 The majority of the book is unsupported narrative and wishful projection。 There has to be a better book than this that explores the trends brought up here。 If you know of one let me know。 Bonus points if it speaks to motives other than hoarding wealth as the meaning for life。At one point A People's History of the United States felt like a breath of fresh air。 That time has passed。 It is too meandering and disjointed to retain it's value once a lot of the history it highlights is more well known。 I appreciate that Zinn at least admits to his biases in the concluding chapter。 That is something Davidson and Rees-Mogg should have done in their book。 Neither of these books are particularly bad。 They present some interesting ideas。 However， I can't recommend either one today。 If you are interested in either book read a summary or longer review and move on。 You'd be better off reading collections of disparate essays on the topics that these books cover。 Read more contemporary work from authors that were influenced by them。 。。。more
Michael
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Light on facts and heavy on speculation， with a little conservative politics thrown in。 I applaud the authors' attempt to forecast， but they are not close after 24 years， with the sole exception of virtual currency。 I stopped after chapter 4。 If you have the time to read the whole pipe dream and find more truth， please comment。 Light on facts and heavy on speculation， with a little conservative politics thrown in。 I applaud the authors' attempt to forecast， but they are not close after 24 years， with the sole exception of virtual currency。 I stopped after chapter 4。 If you have the time to read the whole pipe dream and find more truth， please comment。 。。。more
Lenny Isf
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Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions - and their desirability - there is no doubt that this is an incredibly insightful piece， especially considering the year it was written。 Recommended。
Chris Davies
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I think that’s the most important read to date。
Bryan Oliver
，
mandatory reading。 I had plenty of doubts when a friend recommended this to me， as it was written in 1999， but its so prophetic and grounded in logic that it really can't be overlooked。 Bitcoin， nationstates falling， covid-19 are all predicted over 20 years ago。Not necessarily life changing - but more of an affirmation of the life choices I've made personally - leaving the USA， investing in crypto almost a decade ago， dodging unscrupulous taxes， and seeking citizenship elsewhere。 The insight on mandatory reading。 I had plenty of doubts when a friend recommended this to me， as it was written in 1999， but its so prophetic and grounded in logic that it really can't be overlooked。 Bitcoin， nationstates falling， covid-19 are all predicted over 20 years ago。Not necessarily life changing - but more of an affirmation of the life choices I've made personally - leaving the USA， investing in crypto almost a decade ago， dodging unscrupulous taxes， and seeking citizenship elsewhere。 The insight on democracy as a whole was extremely eye opening， and while the first ~30% of the book was a bit mundane going over the history of empires， morality， cultural paradigms， control of the population， and the shifts of all the above - it was necessary to paint a vivid picture and support the authors' viewpoints in for the rest of the book。 Looking forward to finding more modern updates along similar lines of thinking/prediction。 。。。more
Zach Copley
，
The prescience of this book is pretty amazing。 It even predicted Bitcoin （back in 1997）。 The authors theorized something like it would be needed for the Information Age， and a natural consequence of the widespread use of encryption。 Their analysis of how things will trend is in sharp contrast to most of the doom and gloom， and constant recycling of the 1984 narrative we get all the time。 Recommended。
Nathan Barker
，
This book predicts and explains the macro economic shifts that are happening today。 These include the dissolution of nation states， the rise of cryptocurrencies and an increase in wealth inequality （and why that doesn't mean an increase in poverty）。 This just scratches the surface of concepts explored in this book， and is certainly worthy of a second read。 For me， the most thought provoking claim was how nations who tax disproportionately to the value of their services they provide inevitably fa This book predicts and explains the macro economic shifts that are happening today。 These include the dissolution of nation states， the rise of cryptocurrencies and an increase in wealth inequality （and why that doesn't mean an increase in poverty）。 This just scratches the surface of concepts explored in this book， and is certainly worthy of a second read。 For me， the most thought provoking claim was how nations who tax disproportionately to the value of their services they provide inevitably fail。 Applied to current events， we seem to be on a path of ever increasing taxes， not just in amount， but in form。 We are also seeing a government desperate to stay relevant and provide services that it's members consider valuable。 Think of how politicians quickly played on human emotions and archetypes of good vs。 evil when dealing with Covid。 This book doesn't get everything right （and it never claims to）， but it's blind spots can be overlooked when compared to the bigger picture shifts that it accurately predicted。 Being published in 1997， the reader now has over 20 years of insight to decide for themselves the validity of the authors predictions。 。。。more
Tyler
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Incredibly prescient in areas rarely talked about。 Not 100% accurate （Y2K） but so far the only author I've read prior to 2009 to predict cryptocurrencies and the dynamics of the resulting economy。 Incredibly prescient in areas rarely talked about。 Not 100% accurate （Y2K） but so far the only author I've read prior to 2009 to predict cryptocurrencies and the dynamics of the resulting economy。 。。。more
David
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Wow。
Rob Price
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A deeper technology-induced social and political regime change is underway， including a neutralisation of ever-growing nation state with an increasingly important role for digital decentralised financial technologies like bitcoin。 https://soundmoneymacro。com/2021/03/0。。。 A deeper technology-induced social and political regime change is underway， including a neutralisation of ever-growing nation state with an increasingly important role for digital decentralised financial technologies like bitcoin。 https://soundmoneymacro。com/2021/03/0。。。 。。。more
Charles
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I guess we'll see if it comes true or not。 Nerve wracking and exciting at the same time。 I guess we'll see if it comes true or not。 Nerve wracking and exciting at the same time。 。。。more
Tenzin Rose
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A thought bending book that has changed the way I look at nation states， violence-as-a-means， and the future of the Information Age。My biggest critique is their lack of compassion for the poor and the uneducated。 If culture is a set of learned rules to maintain survival of the group， the difference in culture between those ‘information literate’ and those not appear to be education， health and safety。Having read Sapolsky’s “Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers” recently， the common thread is stress kills A thought bending book that has changed the way I look at nation states， violence-as-a-means， and the future of the Information Age。My biggest critique is their lack of compassion for the poor and the uneducated。 If culture is a set of learned rules to maintain survival of the group， the difference in culture between those ‘information literate’ and those not appear to be education， health and safety。Having read Sapolsky’s “Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers” recently， the common thread is stress kills。 If you’re poor you’re in a perpetual state of stress which inhibits brain development thus reducing your ability to learn。 It’s a compounding cycle that impacts the development of culture and learning within poor communities and limits upward mobility。 I’m hoping this changes with the democratization of technology & education but it also requires something that isn’t touched on in this book: kindness。 Still， 10/10。 Wish I read it sooner。 。。。more
Alexej Gerstmaier
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Original， interesting， insightful。 Will re-read。
Kelvin Jayanoris
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I think that this was fascinating read on how everything is about to be changed the minute it becomes possibly to choose to legally not pay taxes - which is already happening for the very very rich。
Peter Fedichev
，