Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy
- Downloads：2469
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-01-07 06:51:25
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：George Gilder
- ISBN：168451293X
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Summary
A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH
FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Nothing Mr。 Gilder says or writes is ever delivered at anything less than the fullest philosophical decibel。。。 Mr。 Gilder sounds less like a tech guru than a poet， and his words tumble out in a romantic cascade。"
“Google’s algorithms assume the world’s future is nothing more than the next moment in a random process。 George Gilder shows how deep this assumption goes， what motivates people to make it， and why it’s wrong: the future depends on human action。” — Peter Thiel， founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies and author of Zero to One: Notes on Startups， or How to Build the Future
The Age of Google， built on big data and machine intelligence， has been an awesome era。 But it’s coming to an end。 In Life after Google， George Gilder—the peerless visionary of technology and culture—explains why Silicon Valley is suffering a nervous breakdown and what to expect as the post-Google age dawns。
Google’s astonishing ability to “search and sort” attracts the entire world to its search engine and countless other goodies—videos， maps， email， calendars…。And everything it offers is free， or so it seems。 Instead of paying directly， users submit to advertising。 The system of “aggregate and advertise” works—for a while—if you control an empire of data centers， but a market without prices strangles entrepreneurship and turns the Internet into a wasteland of ads。
The crisis is not just economic。 Even as advances in artificial intelligence induce delusions of omnipotence and transcendence， Silicon Valley has pretty much given up on security。 The Internet firewalls supposedly protecting all those passwords and personal information have proved hopelessly permeable。
The crisis cannot be solved within the current computer and network architecture。 The future lies with the “cryptocosm”—the new architecture of the blockchain and its derivatives。 Enabling cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether， NEO and Hashgraph， it will provide the Internet a secure global payments system， ending the aggregate-and-advertise Age of Google。
Silicon Valley， long dominated by a few giants， faces a “great unbundling，” which will disperse computer power and commerce and transform the economy and the Internet。
Life after Google is almost here。
FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Nothing Mr。 Gilder says or writes is ever delivered at anything less than the fullest philosophical decibel。。。 Mr。 Gilder sounds less like a tech guru than a poet， and his words tumble out in a romantic cascade。"
“Google’s algorithms assume the world’s future is nothing more than the next moment in a random process。 George Gilder shows how deep this assumption goes， what motivates people to make it， and why it’s wrong: the future depends on human action。” — Peter Thiel， founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies and author of Zero to One: Notes on Startups， or How to Build the Future
The Age of Google， built on big data and machine intelligence， has been an awesome era。 But it’s coming to an end。 In Life after Google， George Gilder—the peerless visionary of technology and culture—explains why Silicon Valley is suffering a nervous breakdown and what to expect as the post-Google age dawns。
Google’s astonishing ability to “search and sort” attracts the entire world to its search engine and countless other goodies—videos， maps， email， calendars…。And everything it offers is free， or so it seems。 Instead of paying directly， users submit to advertising。 The system of “aggregate and advertise” works—for a while—if you control an empire of data centers， but a market without prices strangles entrepreneurship and turns the Internet into a wasteland of ads。
The crisis is not just economic。 Even as advances in artificial intelligence induce delusions of omnipotence and transcendence， Silicon Valley has pretty much given up on security。 The Internet firewalls supposedly protecting all those passwords and personal information have proved hopelessly permeable。
The crisis cannot be solved within the current computer and network architecture。 The future lies with the “cryptocosm”—the new architecture of the blockchain and its derivatives。 Enabling cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether， NEO and Hashgraph， it will provide the Internet a secure global payments system， ending the aggregate-and-advertise Age of Google。
Silicon Valley， long dominated by a few giants， faces a “great unbundling，” which will disperse computer power and commerce and transform the economy and the Internet。
Life after Google is almost here。
Reviews
Aleks Baklanovs
，
A fairly decent book painting a picture of why corporations like Google， Apple and Facebook might lose their edge in the coming years as blockchain brings the promise of a decentralized web。 Well-written， provides interesting basic background info on Satoshi and Butarin and is a short read。 I'd say， if you have some free time - check it out， if you're precious with it - don't。 A fairly decent book painting a picture of why corporations like Google， Apple and Facebook might lose their edge in the coming years as blockchain brings the promise of a decentralized web。 Well-written， provides interesting basic background info on Satoshi and Butarin and is a short read。 I'd say， if you have some free time - check it out， if you're precious with it - don't。 。。。more
Sean Higgins
，
George Gilder is a character。 He is much more curious and smart than me， and this is a benefit to me in reading him。 I’ve already benefited from a book of his about economics and one about marriage。This book is about technology， especially related to data and the internet， and the trajectory against centralized servers， as modeled mainly by Google。I’m glad I read this， but even now I’m still not sure if Gilder has canceled his Google account and has gone all in on the blockchain， let alone if he George Gilder is a character。 He is much more curious and smart than me， and this is a benefit to me in reading him。 I’ve already benefited from a book of his about economics and one about marriage。This book is about technology， especially related to data and the internet， and the trajectory against centralized servers， as modeled mainly by Google。I’m glad I read this， but even now I’m still not sure if Gilder has canceled his Google account and has gone all in on the blockchain， let alone if he’s transferred his funds to bitcoin （or another of the cryptocurrencies）。 Though there may be other books （and videos） that explain the math that （supposedly） protects the chain， Gilder explains some of the philosophy and value created by it。 。。。more
Nathan
，
Curious and well-explained， economist and author Gilder lays out the argument that Google's biz model is unsustainable， and that the antidote likely comes in the form of emerging blockchain technologies。A few notes & nuggets:-tSecurity is the foundation of all services。 （Ch。 1）-tBehind every private key and every public key is the human interpreter。 A focus on individual human beings makes meaningful security。 （Ch。 5）-tOne’s proof of work will trump the claims of “top-down” speed （as in Google） Curious and well-explained， economist and author Gilder lays out the argument that Google's biz model is unsustainable， and that the antidote likely comes in the form of emerging blockchain technologies。A few notes & nuggets:-tSecurity is the foundation of all services。 （Ch。 1）-tBehind every private key and every public key is the human interpreter。 A focus on individual human beings makes meaningful security。 （Ch。 5）-tOne’s proof of work will trump the claims of “top-down” speed （as in Google） and “free” （as in many Google services） will give way to the voluntary exchanges of a free markets and micropayments。 This world will sit on the foundation of individual uniqueness and choice。 （Ch。 5）-tIn the new world， you’ll only see ads that you want to see and you will be paid for your time and attention to them。 See， e。g。 Brave （company）。 （Ch。 5）-tUnder Bell’s Law， every decade there is a hundred-fold drop in the cost of processing power， thus engendering a new computer architecture。 （Ch。 6）-tIn 1981， a GB drive cost $500k。 In 2018， a GB drive cost less than 3 cents。 The cost of a hard drive has dropped 250，000 times。 （Ch。 6）-tBlockchains can handle intricate property rights needed for complex digital assets with time-stamped proof-of-authorship。 Tokens enable immediate many-sided transactions executed from embedded Blockchain contracts。 （Ch。 16） -t“Reluctant to pay other companies to provide Google’s many types of free goods/services， Google supports internet neutrality as a way to introduce government intervention on behalf of Google’s “free” world。 But Google’s interests ultimately depend on bandwidth abundance that requires the very investment and innovation that is penalized by network neutrality laws。” （Ch。 20）-t“The purpose of incurring the cost of the chain is to address the doldrums of centralization in security…。By disintermediating transactions， cryptocurrencies also offer a remedy for the hypertrophy of finance。” （Ch。 23）-tBlockchains create mediums of exchange （bitcoin， etc。）， generates blockchains of functionality （GNT， Render， etc。）， stores of value （e。g。 Ether）， “rivets of security” （Blockstack， Rivets， etc。）， software languages （Solidity， Golum （sp？））， and measures of wealth。 It has even produced “stablecoins” as units of account。 （Ch。 23） 。。。more
William Schrecengost
，
Really good。 Argues that the maior tech companies will fail due to their Marxist ideologies。 Namely， the idea that we can achieve a final perfect state and that there is no progress beyond that。 These tech companies believe that AI will take over the means of production and that we can all retire in a socialistic dream。 Companies that believe that they are the pinnacle of perfection stop innovating and become a stagnant member of society。 These companies will inevitably be surpassed by entrepren Really good。 Argues that the maior tech companies will fail due to their Marxist ideologies。 Namely， the idea that we can achieve a final perfect state and that there is no progress beyond that。 These tech companies believe that AI will take over the means of production and that we can all retire in a socialistic dream。 Companies that believe that they are the pinnacle of perfection stop innovating and become a stagnant member of society。 These companies will inevitably be surpassed by entrepreneurs who see them merely as an obstacle to overcome。 Most of the book is about different technologies that are currently challenging the status quo and could revolutionize the internet。 The principles behind this is further described in his Knowledge and Power book， this is just an application of that to tech companies。 。。。more
Carl Jones
，
Great insight where we are headed and totally believe the author is spot on
Bru
，
Crazy how much has changed in 3 years; very interesting to see what he got right and wrong。Love to see this level of passion at 78。 Many parts though are just headlining reporting and buzzwords。Easy read; good if you are unfamiliar with the space。 If you are relatively familiar with the space， many details will be known to you， but the libertarian musings are quite fun。 Probably just watch a couple of his keynotes to get the general idea。 Stuff about marakov and block chains being opposites is j Crazy how much has changed in 3 years; very interesting to see what he got right and wrong。Love to see this level of passion at 78。 Many parts though are just headlining reporting and buzzwords。Easy read; good if you are unfamiliar with the space。 If you are relatively familiar with the space， many details will be known to you， but the libertarian musings are quite fun。 Probably just watch a couple of his keynotes to get the general idea。 Stuff about marakov and block chains being opposites is just straight wrong。 It’s like saying a orange and pineapple are opposites。 。。。more
Spencer
，
A bit heady at times， but really good。 A good one to read to understand Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies， and where they came from and where we're going with them。 A bit heady at times， but really good。 A good one to read to understand Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies， and where they came from and where we're going with them。 。。。more
beingCristina
，
This book unpacked the bigger picture of what has been happening now （not future， but now） in our digital world which is the social and for most of us， the 'only' world （#$$%&%$#？？）。 At the end of the day， nothing is truly free。 As the saying goes， "If you are not paying for it， then you are the product"。 This book unpacked the bigger picture of what has been happening now （not future， but now） in our digital world which is the social and for most of us， the 'only' world （#$$%&%$#？？）。 At the end of the day， nothing is truly free。 As the saying goes， "If you are not paying for it， then you are the product"。 。。。more
Joshua Pujol
，
George Gilder is an enigma， rarely do I find a book with this level of technical understanding let alone from a BOOMER。 George Gilder wrote a book back in the 1990s called life after television which basically predicted modern computing and smartphones to a tee。 His understanding of the workings of silicon and economics alike made for a thought provoking thesis on where we are， and where we are headed。 Google and many other business models are being rocked by a new wave of innovation where priva George Gilder is an enigma， rarely do I find a book with this level of technical understanding let alone from a BOOMER。 George Gilder wrote a book back in the 1990s called life after television which basically predicted modern computing and smartphones to a tee。 His understanding of the workings of silicon and economics alike made for a thought provoking thesis on where we are， and where we are headed。 Google and many other business models are being rocked by a new wave of innovation where privacy is the backbone of new digital infrastructure not some tacked on centralized afterthought。 Truly fascinating read and only time will tell if George Gilder is the oracle of silicon that he has been clearly in the past 。。。more
Raymond Klucik
，
The technologies themselves are hard enough to follow， add in the authors frequent use of analogies， similes， linguistic gymnastics "Hyperventilating haruspices" made this book more a chore than a delight。 Maybe I would have enjoyed the ELi5 version better。 The technologies themselves are hard enough to follow， add in the authors frequent use of analogies， similes， linguistic gymnastics "Hyperventilating haruspices" made this book more a chore than a delight。 Maybe I would have enjoyed the ELi5 version better。 。。。more
Thurston Hunger
，
Note to future self: I should reread this and pause on every name to spend an hour or so searching that person and any videos with them being interviewed。 Also future self， I suspect you will not outlive Google， but hopefully that we'll have to wait three （maybe four） decades to find out。 Anyways， much in this book。。。。which while sprawling was certainly engaging。 I see that other reviewers get caught up in the all that glitters is better than gold kind of thinking， and at a silly level wonder if Note to future self: I should reread this and pause on every name to spend an hour or so searching that person and any videos with them being interviewed。 Also future self， I suspect you will not outlive Google， but hopefully that we'll have to wait three （maybe four） decades to find out。 Anyways， much in this book。。。。which while sprawling was certainly engaging。 I see that other reviewers get caught up in the all that glitters is better than gold kind of thinking， and at a silly level wonder if Gilder invests too much in his name。 I do feel at times concerned by the barking of bitcoin， and while hope I am not a Luddite 2。0 cannot help but get dizzy with the Hypertrophy of Finance。 Castles in the sand， when even the sand is gone， replaced by silicon chips or I guess soon by carbon nanotubes when Elon is allowed to have full auto-driving vehicles。Is that why Tesla migrated to Texas？ Individual life is cheaper， like a few bodies falling off a skyscraper when they first arose？ I hope not， those lives are *not* artificial。Anyways the Gilder book to me produces this kind of exhilarated confusion， or confuse exhilaration。 I did appreciate that the last word of Life After Google is a definition of wealth as Tested Knowledge。 。。。more
Eric
，
A futuristic look at what will bring the current economy down， and what is sure to replace it， publ in 2018 by a respected philosopher/ futurist。 This is the first book I've read by George Gilder， although he has been around for decades， but I enjoyed this enough to check another one of his books out of the local library already。 He is a clear thinker， and his take on the current Silicon Valley titans of Google， Amazon， et al is very pointed， and much borne out by the recent accusations of monop A futuristic look at what will bring the current economy down， and what is sure to replace it， publ in 2018 by a respected philosopher/ futurist。 This is the first book I've read by George Gilder， although he has been around for decades， but I enjoyed this enough to check another one of his books out of the local library already。 He is a clear thinker， and his take on the current Silicon Valley titans of Google， Amazon， et al is very pointed， and much borne out by the recent accusations of monopolistic， anti-social behavior against them coming from many directions。 He outlined why this would happen， how dangerous it would be to America and the rest of the world， and how it sowed the seeds of it's own destruction。。。 which is already happening before our own eyes。 And how it will be replaced by blockchain tech， which I agree with whole heartedly。 And next I'm going on to his slightly older book "Wealth & Poverty"。 。。。more
Zina
，
I keep debating how to rate this effort。 On one hand， it is some interesting reasoning and all。 On the other， the level of some arguments like "his advice is worthless because he is a white male" （I kid you not！ and repeated at least twice！） baffles the mind。 Add to this the anti-college stand， express mostly in an online troll debate-style （with assertions， like "they keep doing worse and worse job of teaching every year"） and general overadoration of Peter Thiel， and the whole reasoning starts I keep debating how to rate this effort。 On one hand， it is some interesting reasoning and all。 On the other， the level of some arguments like "his advice is worthless because he is a white male" （I kid you not！ and repeated at least twice！） baffles the mind。 Add to this the anti-college stand， express mostly in an online troll debate-style （with assertions， like "they keep doing worse and worse job of teaching every year"） and general overadoration of Peter Thiel， and the whole reasoning starts getting suspect。 The author would be wise to revise some of these out， as they significantly lower his credibility， while seemingly not doing much for the substance。 Unless these are simply dog whistles， and I am being naive。 /shrug。 。。。more
Grace Swindler
，
Average。
Lloyd elsalmon
，
A visionary of technology and culture explains what to expect in a post "Google Marxism" age。 A visionary of technology and culture explains what to expect in a post "Google Marxism" age。 。。。more
Davide Maccabruni
，
I was expecting much more from the book， hoping to get some insights about the possible world system of the future。 Some concepts are interesting food for thought， but Gilder doesn’t give a concise or understandable position on the single aspects。 On the contrary， he often wanders off in useless technicalities just to show off his knowledge。 Besides the anecdotes and self-references that add nothing to the core and are just used to show how well connected he is， whom he likes and whom he doesn’t I was expecting much more from the book， hoping to get some insights about the possible world system of the future。 Some concepts are interesting food for thought， but Gilder doesn’t give a concise or understandable position on the single aspects。 On the contrary， he often wanders off in useless technicalities just to show off his knowledge。 Besides the anecdotes and self-references that add nothing to the core and are just used to show how well connected he is， whom he likes and whom he doesn’t。 。。。more
Max
，
If you just read the prologue and epilogue of this book， you'd expect much more than what the author ultimately offers。 Gilder defines the problem well， but the case he mounts in favor of the solution is not very cohesive， and thus lacking in persuasiveness。His arrogance and overly libertarian-capitalist bias also turned me off。 On the bias side， he resorts more to ad hominem attacks on any policy out of line with laissez faire capitalism， instead of building sound arguments through evidence。 I If you just read the prologue and epilogue of this book， you'd expect much more than what the author ultimately offers。 Gilder defines the problem well， but the case he mounts in favor of the solution is not very cohesive， and thus lacking in persuasiveness。His arrogance and overly libertarian-capitalist bias also turned me off。 On the bias side， he resorts more to ad hominem attacks on any policy out of line with laissez faire capitalism， instead of building sound arguments through evidence。 I could feel his emotion boiling over where I would expect to see logic and rationalism in a compelling thesis。Still an informative book and one that will likely teach you a lot of new vocabulary at the least。 。。。more
Anthony Fiedler
，
Gilder provides the foundation for where cryptocurrency and more importantly Blockchain can success in a non FAANG future。 Goes through stories of origination， ties them to physicists and the scientists of theory before the white papers that put a technical application to a combination。 Key starters like Satoshi and Buterin along with mentions of Thiel and other investors before finishing on VR and the rising Blockchain。 Interesting but deep foray into the history and where tech companies have f Gilder provides the foundation for where cryptocurrency and more importantly Blockchain can success in a non FAANG future。 Goes through stories of origination， ties them to physicists and the scientists of theory before the white papers that put a technical application to a combination。 Key starters like Satoshi and Buterin along with mentions of Thiel and other investors before finishing on VR and the rising Blockchain。 Interesting but deep foray into the history and where tech companies have failed but not so much into a prediction for companies in the future。 。。。more
Liam Polkinghorne
，
Heavy going。 Will do a poor job of summarising the book's arguments， but the author postulates that Google’s security foibles， its “aggregate and advertise” model， its avoidance of price signals， its vertical silos of customer data， and its visions of machine mind are unlikely to survive the root-and-branch revolution of distributed peer-to-peer technology， the “cryptocosm”。 The limitations of Google's model and solved by distributed ledger technology。 Heavy going。 Will do a poor job of summarising the book's arguments， but the author postulates that Google’s security foibles， its “aggregate and advertise” model， its avoidance of price signals， its vertical silos of customer data， and its visions of machine mind are unlikely to survive the root-and-branch revolution of distributed peer-to-peer technology， the “cryptocosm”。 The limitations of Google's model and solved by distributed ledger technology。 。。。more
Sabina
，
It’s hard to follow the chain of thought of the author when you are listening to it as an audiobook。 I believe that the epilogue highlighted the most important point of the entire book， while the inbetween seems like an endless ramble of blockchain。 Still a very valid book in our day and age， and relevant for everyone working in tech。
Drew
，
It doesn't feel like this book knows what it wants to be。 Technical discussions give way to Silicon Valley gossip and rumors， which then somehow became a case for deregulation， divesting from higher education， and libertarianism to bolster innovation。 It's not wholly without merit， but completely ignores issues regarding equity of access， wealth gap， or any conscious attempt at social responsibility。 The only guidling light seems to be advancing the leading edge and trusting the society to catch It doesn't feel like this book knows what it wants to be。 Technical discussions give way to Silicon Valley gossip and rumors， which then somehow became a case for deregulation， divesting from higher education， and libertarianism to bolster innovation。 It's not wholly without merit， but completely ignores issues regarding equity of access， wealth gap， or any conscious attempt at social responsibility。 The only guidling light seems to be advancing the leading edge and trusting the society to catch up， like a trickle-down model of innovation。 。。。more
Jesse
，
Key work that unpacks the worldview behind Google， Facebook， and other tech companies。 Nothing is free。 If you are not paying for it， then you are the product。 The big tech companies are running on a Darwinian social conditioning model。 If you understand that， then you understand everything else。 The end goal for these companies is Artificial Intelligence。 But these tech companies will not get there because the human mind is different than the human brain。 The brain is the hardware， the mind is Key work that unpacks the worldview behind Google， Facebook， and other tech companies。 Nothing is free。 If you are not paying for it， then you are the product。 The big tech companies are running on a Darwinian social conditioning model。 If you understand that， then you understand everything else。 The end goal for these companies is Artificial Intelligence。 But these tech companies will not get there because the human mind is different than the human brain。 The brain is the hardware， the mind is the software。 A materialistic worldview can't build a human mind。But these tech companies are going to try to get there anyway。 In the process， they will fulfill what Lewis saw coming: Man's conquest of nature。 Which is really some men who have conquered other men。 。。。more
Eric Pavao
，
Excellent。 If you want a brief overview as to why many people are excited about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies this is a great book to read。
Ezereza
，
This book changed the way I looked at a lot of things， in one coherent sweeping narrative that demonstrates the intelligent erudition of the author and his mastery of the topic。 Hope to read more books like this。
Hitesh Bansal
，
Basically this book covers the upcoming technologies that can revolutionise the world just like Google， Facebook， Microsoft， Amazon， some， Netflix， etc。 did。It tells how a distributed architecture， like， crypto， cloud computing， sky computing， sharing of hardware， starting of GPU processing， sharing of processing power， etc， are future。Overall a decent read。
picoas picoas
，
If you're into stuff like this， you can read the full review。Abacusial Status : "Life After Google - The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy" by George GilderTime， space， matter， energy， knowledge and information。One of the largest impediments to any good， proper and complete understanding of our universe， of ourselves and of our own position within it， is the current failure to firstly define and understand ‘information’ itself。 Although I’m not prepared to divulge ‘informat If you're into stuff like this， you can read the full review。Abacusial Status : "Life After Google - The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy" by George GilderTime， space， matter， energy， knowledge and information。One of the largest impediments to any good， proper and complete understanding of our universe， of ourselves and of our own position within it， is the current failure to firstly define and understand ‘information’ itself。 Although I’m not prepared to divulge ‘information’s’ correct ontological identity here。 。。。more
Chengzhi Wu Li
，
It's good for an intro in Blockchain and its history but since the author has no technical background the way he explains the topics are bad。 It's good for an intro in Blockchain and its history but since the author has no technical background the way he explains the topics are bad。 。。。more
Rusten
，
A
Viktor
，
I don't need to have read this book。 Just picked it because of the views of the author。 Wasn't dissapointed there， but the book itself was longer than needed and read like long ramble。 I also had to lookup word definitions on virtually every page， a record for any book I've read。 I don't need to have read this book。 Just picked it because of the views of the author。 Wasn't dissapointed there， but the book itself was longer than needed and read like long ramble。 I also had to lookup word definitions on virtually every page， a record for any book I've read。 。。。more
Leonard
，