An Executive Summary of 'Breakpoint: Why the Web Will Implode, Search Will Be Obsolete, and Everything Else You Need to Know About Technology Is in Your Brain' by Jeff Stibel

[Aaron]

Just finished reading the new book by Jeff Stibel called Breakpoint: Why the Web will Implode, Search will be Obsolete, and Everything Else you Need to Know about Technology is in Your Brain. The book is about networks, and how networks evolve; and it focuses on the internet (which is one enormous network). Stibel argues that the internet is still in the early phases of its evolution, and that based on how other similar networks evolve (such as the ant colony and the human brain), we can expect some big big changes out of the internet in the coming years (including the development of real intelligence and consciousness). This was an extremely interesting read. I've written a full executive summary available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/08/07...

Cheers,
Aaron

[Trevor]

I was very impressed with Aaron's executive summary of this book and left a comment to that effect on http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/08/07
I'm currently writing Twenty Eighty-Four (2084), a futuristic novel whose main character is a scientist exploring the idea Breakpoint advances that we mimic the brain's functioning in computer networks. The further idea in Breakpoint that eventually technology will nothing but an enormous brain could be interpreted as a future society in which the brain of every person in the world is interconnected.
Then, like the ants, individuals will be stupid and the collective will be smart, with every person depending on connectivity. A spine-tingling thought, leaving us to speculate: in the human ant colony, who will be queen?
2084's first 30 chapters can be read as a WIP on goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...

[Feliks]

I can't say I like the thrust of any of this. Creepy and disturbing; wild speculations at best. The Malcolm Gladwell school of reckless hypotheses. The schemes themselves: extremely undesirable. They emanate rashness, foolhardiness. How about we leave everything the same and stop meddling with proven, established practices? The Google-fied internet is less than a generation old--its already leaky as a sieve; problem-ridden; juvenile--and you guys think we should let it determine how society runs? Please. Seriously, save all this for the Holo-deck.

[Trevor]

The holo-deck is the next logical step...

[Aaron]

Feliks wrote: "I can't say I like the thrust of any of this. Creepy and disturbing; wild speculations at best. The Malcolm Gladwell school of reckless hypotheses. The schemes themselves: extremely undesirable. Th..."

Actually, the book foretells the fall of Google. I think the message of the book is different from what you are assuming (though you may still not agree with its conclusions).