From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future

by Tom A. Wheeler

Network revolutions of the past have shaped the present and set the stage for the revolution we are experiencing today In an era of seemingly instant change, it's easy to think that today's revolutions—in communications, business, and many areas of daily life—are unprecedented. Today's changes may be new and may be happening faster than ever before. But our ancestors at times were just as bewildered by rapid upheavals in what we now call “networks”—the physical links that bind any society together. In this fascinating book, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler brings to life the two great network revolutions of the past and uses them to help put in perspective the confusion, uncertainty, and even excitement most people face today. The first big network revolution was the invention of movable-type printing in the fifteenth century. This book, its millions of predecessors, and even such broad trends as the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the multiple scientific revolutions of the past 500 years would not have been possible without that one invention. The second revolution came with the invention of the telegraph early in the nineteenth century. Never before had people been able to communicate over long distances faster than a horse could travel. Along with the development of the world's first high-speed network—the railroad—the telegraph upended centuries of stability and literally redrew the map of the world. Wheeler puts these past revolutions into the perspective of today, when rapid-fire changes in networking are upending the nature of work, personal privacy, education, the media, and nearly every other aspect of modern life. But he doesn't leave it there. Outlining "What's Next," he describes how artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, and the need for cybersecurity are laying the foundation for a third network revolution.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Technology, Society, Business

302 pages, Hardcover

Published February 26, 2019

Reviews

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

“… erudite tour of the great networks that have defined our civilization.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads, blurb

Interesting but not engaging. Tom Wheeler does a good job putting progress into perspective in pithy paragraphs. But between those insights, we endure excruciating detail irrelevant to the story. The structure Wheeler chose created repetition of facts, context and anecdotes. A straight narrative could make the same interesting connections while tying together the developments in a more chronological style, eliminating the repetitions. I liked the premise and in particular enjoyed the parts about Gutenberg, the railroad and the telegraph. Three and a half stars.

This book examines the patterns of network outcomes over time. It reveals the power of network revolutions and the opportunities they create. This book focuses on networks that led to the marriage of computing and communication.

Perspective

We now live during the third great network revolution in history: low-cost computing and ubiquitous digital connectivity. But unfortunately, writes Wheeler, the trump administration repealed initiatives, such as net neutrality and privacy responsibilities.

Gutenberg’s moveable type created the first information network. The free movement of ideas fired the Reformation and spread the Renaissance. Four hundred years later, the next network transformation unfolded: the railroad and the telegraph.

Existing technologies converged into the printing press, the railroad and the telegraph.

Gutenberg

Scribes functioned for a thousand years. Nobles and priests kept knowledge as handwritten manuscripts. The printing press freed that information, moving ideas moved beyond clerics and monasteries, while stimulating more minds, which turned into a self-perpetuating cycle that expanded knowledge. The press reduced the cost of reproducing. Information increased as the cost of reproducing information decreased. A scribe’s manuscript cost three hundred times more than a printed version.

Halloween five hundred years ago. Luther questioned the role of the Catholic church. Such heresy went unnoticed for centuries. But this time the new printing technology quickly distributed his theses, launching the Reformation. Within three weeks, the theses became available around Germany.

Information on horseback traveled at four miles an hour. Gutenberg’s press increased the volume of information but not the speed. The railroad added speed by moving eight times faster than animals.

Railroad and telegraph

In the mid-eighteen hundreds railroads shrank distance while telegraph collapsed time. The railroad eliminted geographic isolation while the telegraph moved information faster than the wind, leading to creation of the Weather Bureau.

Laying tracks on land went much quicker than digging a canal into the ground. Early railroads moved their cargo quickly, twenty miles an hour while boats moved at four miles an hour.

In the mid-eighteen hundreds, times varied around the country. Wisconsin had thirty-eight time settings. Railroad standard time divided the continent into five zones. Standard time became official a hundred years ago.

By nineteen ten the miles of railroad tracks surpassed the miles of paved roads. Also by that time, a third of people lived in big cities. The railroad became the country’s largest employer.

Printing networks sped the transformation of Western thought while the rail network transformed commerce and the patterns of life.

Information age infrastructure began when the railroad and the telegraph realized their symbiotic relationship. Railroad employees doubled as telegraph operators. Each train station became a town’s center of information.

Before the wire, newspaper stories appeared as literary narratives. The telegraph inspired a new style putting the news in the lead paragraph. The telegraph expanded the scope of newspapers, delivering information before it arrived in the mail. Introduction of the telegraph led to the creation of commodity markets in Chicago, Milwaukee and five other cities.

While the railroad and telegraph expanded our horizons, the unforeseen consequences of these new networks included the railroad’s impact on urbanization and the telegraph’s effect on news and finance. The telegraph helped turn local newspapers into a business, connecting them while they developed rules and practices.

Events moving on the wire redefined news. Six years after the initial telegraph line, six New York newspapers formed The Associated Press, which allowed them to share distant correspondents. Newsgathering now happened away from central locations.

CNN broke the news monopoly forty years ago. Modern networks, with unlimited capacity, redefine news again.

Forty pages of thoughtful and expansive endnotes support the book.

Interesting. But I prefer Tim Wu’s cohesive coverage of related concerns.

[Cgallozzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book.

A survey course (a technological travelog) of the technologies and their business and social impacts (Guttenberg's Printing Press) and Railroad/Telegraph and the ongoing third revolution (A.I., World Wide Web 3.0 and CyberSecurity as examples).

Wheeler's premise is that (in 2018) we were begging (or within) the third great information revolution concerning information processing and transfer.

First related to Guttenberg - which after the development of moveable type - allowed printing for the masses - within 50 years more books had been printed than had been copied by monks. This diffusion of knowledge - assisted Martin Luther in getting his message out - and helped the ideas of the Renaissance spread.

Second related to Railroads and Telegraph - in the U.S. creating one continent wide market to move physical good and people (Railroad) and then information (Telegraph and then later Telephone) - the impacts of this allowed the creation of one national market for goods - larger lot sizes - reduced costs per unit - prices to be reduced - increasing volume - leading to a more volume and etc.
These change had impacts on where people worked (initially the farm; then during this change - move toward centralization into factories and offices and the creation of very large corporations).

Third relates to the information system - Computers, High Speed Networks/Software. Especially interested in this retelling - with 'blurbs' about Turing, Mauchley & Eckhardt, Claude Shannon, Babbage and etc., all made contributions to the theory and practice of information processing. As the previous revolution (above) allowed resources/power to be centralized - this revolution will move 'power' to the edge of the network [individual people can consume, create and distribute content] while creating a few large companies in the Social Media business [Google, Facebook and etc.]

Wheeler talks about the issues of the day - -but his advice centers on what was said to AT&T employees ..."The most basic right of employees is to be prepared for the future.." in this context the employees were advised to invest between 5 to 10 hours a week retooling their skill set for the future.

Wheeler ends optimistically - indicating that "we've been through this before" - with other information revolutions - the dislocations - misinformation - major changes in society - but we "come through them" - advises each individual to prepare - for the changed, challenging but 'better life'.

Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net

[Cory Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great recounting of history from the perspective of networks--with an explanation for how the printing press relates to the internet on a societal level--as well as an explanation of where we are now and where we're headed. This book goes into intense detail about a lot of historical topics and discusses computing and internet concepts in a way that is accessible, but I have to admit that it could seem a little overwhelming to some people depending on their background.

This book is great for history nerds, and especially for history nerds who also enjoy computers. My favorite point from this book is that every technology that caused a paradigm shift in our development as a species brought with it destabilization and collective anxiety, and concerned individuals always said the same things about the new technology, but in the end the world didn't end, and we managed to survive. The changes coming thanks to the rapid evolution in the internet are scary, and Miller shows all the ways that they can be intensely scary, but in the end we'll survive, and humanity will grow stronger because of it.

I disagreed with some of Wheeler's political opinions, and his thoughts on digital privacy, and I found his perspective on jobs in the age of automation, while more hopeful than most on his side of the argument, stuck a little too firmly in the camp of "personal wellbeing == jobs, there is no other solution." And I felt that Wheeler repeated himself and backtracked a little too much in the history portion of the book. But I can't really detract much from the book for differences of opinion.

This is a good book. I think just reading this book would advance most people's understanding of the world a great deal, at least from the perspective of how tech affects the world.

[Jeremy Langett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler not only offers a fascinating journey through the history of communications technology but paints a clear picture of how our digitally networked lives will be best lived in the future. Additionally, Mr. Wheeler tempers the fearmongering surrounding the loss of jobs as a result of A.I., deep-learning machines and quantum computing by providing key historical examples of how technology has reshaped - not destroyed - employment opportunities. To that end, Wheeler drops some sage advice about the needs of our educational curriculum in the future: "Our only protection [from an all-encompassing computerized society] is an educational system oriented less toward teaching the skills of a second-rate robot and more toward the skills of a first-rate human, one that a computer can't replace" (201). Humanities majors, rejoice.

[Bartley Sharkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a little tricky, as I was reading I swung between a desire to rate it with only one or two stars to potentially five stars and back to somewhere in the middle. What did I like about it? Although the sub-title says "The History of Our Future", the book really does start out with a history lesson, which tries to explore the meaning and impact of early technological innovations like, predictably, the printing press, to the steam engine and the telegraph. In the end it's quite an interesting look back at how these advances changed the world, but it does feel quite often as if the author is just listing events to make sure that portion of the book is covered off and not so much out of his own interest in that history.

As he continues, we start to hit upon the network technologies of the Internet and social media and the various aspects of both that make them both very useful and dangerous at the same time. It's here that the author seems to finally hit his stride, having reached the actual point of the writing the book in the first place. It's almost as if the book builds up to the point where it'll move on to speculating about the course these technologies may take and then suddenly ends.

Furthermore, and perhaps the main thing that got under my skin during the book was the tendency of the author to inject himself into the story he was telling. Whether it's through references to meetings he had with presumably important individuals or other personal encounters, he wedged in a few names and occasions that really don't add anything and would have been better off left out.

All-in-all, it's a book that reminds you of how the world was before a number of technologies became widespread and although the style can be pretty annoying at times, it's worth a look if you're into that kind of thing.

[Ed Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read on the history of technology. Former Chair of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, brings policy experience and well researched and entertaining history to bear in this sort, readable and incredibly important work. Showing the parallels of development from the printing press, telegraph, telephone, internet and development into AI and the IoT, Wheeler provides guideposts to future development as well as policy issues. Discussing challenges of security, privacy and policy, Wheeler also recognizes the inexorable march towards progress - including a discussion of those opposed to it at each major technological development. An entertaining read, and an important one.

[Brunella Longo · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be completely honest, the book seemed pervaded by a sort of hype, of tension ("the history of our future"!) that I have found in some respects worthless. Why do we need to approach technologies with emotional lenses, with a religious predisposition to be fascinated by the new kids on the block that turn out to be inevitably quite distant from what we thought?

Perhaps the value of this interesting exercise in framing the current digital transformation of the creative industries within an historical excursus (that I must say I have very much endorsed and practiced myself) is in the final chapters, in particularly the one on Facebook.

[Artracer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Wheeler does a good job weaving the promise, pitfalls and prejudices that accompanied the printing press, telegraph & railroad and the internet into a compelling history. He leads us to think about how our current cyber revolution in may play out.
Hang in past the first pages with this book, I was a bit put off by the preface and prologue, finding the writing a little stilted. However when the chapters start the book gets quite interesting and is well written.

[Wes R · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explains how technological revolutions have changed our world in all aspects from economic to political to social effects. It focuses on the explosion of information during the Reformation, the rise of communications and interconnected commerce during Western Expansion, and the internet of things developed during the Digital Age. It is a very good read for thise interested in history and technological advancement.

[Wally Bock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brookings Institution Press should be ashamed to publish this. Check out the book on Amazon to see if you can handle the writing. Buy From Gutenberg to Google at your own risk. You’ve been warned.

See my full review:

https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wheeler distills the intricacies of history and the complexities of technology into understandable narrative. He provides enough historical background to allow the reader to understand revolutions in printing, railroads, telecommunications, and the internet and explaining the impact such revolutions had on humanity.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at the request of a client. Very interesting history of how technology (mainly Gutenberg, Trains, and the Internet) have changed our lives and commerce. The main takeaway I had was that everyone hates change (duh) but it always changes our lives in ways we can’t even fathom until we are living it. That’s cool.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and illuminating overview of three key communication technologies. The details and anecdotes make it easy to read and Wheeler ties together the themes to show that we've been there before.

I particularly appreciated the observations on the social impact of these technologies.

Highly recommended.

[Mohit · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a wonderful take on how our society has gone through multiple information revolutions. It focuses on Gutenberg's creation of the printing press, invention of the steam engine and expansion of railway networks, and invention of telegraph and telegraph. In the end, it describes how the ongoing internet revolution is not too dissimilar from the past revolutions.

[Ricky Kimsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

History Of Communications

This is a great history of communications starting with the invention of the printing press and goes on to every milestone until we get to the World Wide Web.

[Evan Ratner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technology isn't just 21at century

One of those books that provides a framework of tech history from the printing press to the railroad and ties it back to blockchain. If you want to understand big picture give this a read

[Joey Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This felt like one big history lesson about how Networks have shaped the country and world. This also terrifies me for the future of AI, and Digital Networks

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Former FCC Chariman tells the story of American tech and innovation and implications for our future.

[Nadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative exploration of how technology has shaped the modern world.

[Jc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, lucid, and very possibly scarry.

[Iván Braga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante y entretenido libro que analiza las grandes transformaciones tecnológicas que cambiaron la forma en que los seres humanos nos comunicamos, interactuamos y formamos redes. Desde la invención de la imprenta, pasando por la máquina de vapor, ferrocarriles, telégrafo y hasta las modernas redes digitales actuales, el libro describe como surgieron y como alteraron a la humanidad. Interesante es el análisis de los patrones que explican el surgimiento de estas tecnologías y la forma como se desarrollaron y expandieron, cambiando la sociedad fundamentalmente. Me pareció recomendable y el análisis restrospectivo que hace no solo permite sacar conclusiones y patrones, también entrega detalles históricos interesantes respecto a cada innovación.