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Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
This collection of the 20 essays comprising Season 1 essays from breakingsmart.com, with an introduction by Marc Andreessen, provides an in-depth look at how software is eating the world and transforming work, life, and society.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
December 28, 2018
I feel like I should have loved this, but in fact, found myself regularly shying away from some of the more polemical statements and cringing at the lack of humility. It's entirely possible that Rao is right on all counts, but as a rationalist, the happy-path argument he creates just didn't cut it.
In most ways, I should be a shoe-in for Breaking Smart / Ribbonfarm, and there are definitely pieces of his writing that I found really compelling. But the hubris grated at me and stank of Silicon Valley self-congratulation. I do agree that software is unique and different, and putting it in the same class as money and language could the the right categorization. Even so, I think that the existence of counter-examples is important. Most of the theses in the book are supported by "silicon valley wisdom," much of which doesn't translate into larger companies with bigger missions. The fundamental narrative of self-motivated tinkering as the source of modern innovation also fails to engage with the fact that massive real innovation is happening under the umbrellas of the large patronage wings of the FANG corporations.
Finally, there are a couple of blatant mis-representations: the idea that technology companies "broke away" from the military-industrial complex in order to develop creative technology flies in the face of contemporary historical consensus, calling the Apollo program a "dead-end failure" seems to be a pretty big stretch, and arguing that "being the founder of the fastest growing startup may offer more actual leverage than being President of the United States" strikes me as very far-fetched.
Overall, I think that Rao basically succumbs to tribalism in this book. Sponsored by Andreessen-Horowitz, he picked his side and fights for it. While I agree with a lot of the substance of this book, the rhetoric left me feeling slimy and misled, and the entirety of the piece is far too self-assured for my taste.
In most ways, I should be a shoe-in for Breaking Smart / Ribbonfarm, and there are definitely pieces of his writing that I found really compelling. But the hubris grated at me and stank of Silicon Valley self-congratulation. I do agree that software is unique and different, and putting it in the same class as money and language could the the right categorization. Even so, I think that the existence of counter-examples is important. Most of the theses in the book are supported by "silicon valley wisdom," much of which doesn't translate into larger companies with bigger missions. The fundamental narrative of self-motivated tinkering as the source of modern innovation also fails to engage with the fact that massive real innovation is happening under the umbrellas of the large patronage wings of the FANG corporations.
Finally, there are a couple of blatant mis-representations: the idea that technology companies "broke away" from the military-industrial complex in order to develop creative technology flies in the face of contemporary historical consensus, calling the Apollo program a "dead-end failure" seems to be a pretty big stretch, and arguing that "being the founder of the fastest growing startup may offer more actual leverage than being President of the United States" strikes me as very far-fetched.
Overall, I think that Rao basically succumbs to tribalism in this book. Sponsored by Andreessen-Horowitz, he picked his side and fights for it. While I agree with a lot of the substance of this book, the rhetoric left me feeling slimy and misled, and the entirety of the piece is far too self-assured for my taste.
August 20, 2020
Read this if you want a longer-than-it-should-be series sponsored by a VC that waxes eloquent on the f u t u r e. Some mildly interesting thoughts, but boring on the whole. Speedran through the last two essays.
May 28, 2020
One of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking pieces of writing on technology I've ever read. Even with some headscratching claims and biases, this evoked my highlighting and note-taking than any book I've read in a while.
Read
March 11, 2016This book (it is structured like a book and I downloaded the Kindle version and read it like a book, but it's technically a collection of blog posts/essays that build on each other) elucidates all the theories I've come to associate with Silicon Valley culture. While I disagree with many of his arguments it's the clearest and most compelling presentation of the "software is eating the world but will lead us all to salvation" philosophy espoused by many technologists.
Very thought provoking and a fun read. Venkatesh Rao has an amazing mind.
Very thought provoking and a fun read. Venkatesh Rao has an amazing mind.
July 10, 2022
Got through about 2/3. Not a bad read. The way Rao framed entrepreneurship and the increasing ease with which people can run their own business & become a brand has helped convince me that business ownership is truly key when thinking about success in the next few decades.
Overall would recommend to those that are interested in technology and business, but only after reading the excellent Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy.
Here's a selection of highlights that I found compelling:
Overall would recommend to those that are interested in technology and business, but only after reading the excellent Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy.
Here's a selection of highlights that I found compelling:
Pastoralists can imagine sustaining changes to the prevailing social order, but disruptive changes seem profane.
This general principle of fertility-seeking has been repeatedly rediscovered and articulated in a bewildering variety of specific forms. The statements have names such as the principle of least commitment (planning software), the end-to-end principle (network design), the procrastination principle (architecture), optionality (investing), paving the cowpaths (interface design), lazy evaluation (language design) and late binding (code execution).
Traditional processes of consensus-seeking drive towards clarity in long-term visions but are usually fuzzy on immediate next steps. By contrast, rough consensus in software deliberately seeks ambiguity in long-term outcomes and extreme clarity in immediate next steps.
Enhanced information availability and lowered friction can make any field hacker-friendly
If pastoral visions are so limiting, why do we get so attached to them? Where do they even come from in the first place? Ironically, they arise from Promethean periods of evolution that are too successful.
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
September 19, 2018
Venkatesh Rao is an author and consultant. He has previously worked as a researcher at Cornell University and Xerox. Now a deep thinker on the social processes of software development and proliferation.
I found these short dense chapters to be on topics that stretched my cognitive abilities and produces new insights into social life. His main thesis can be summed up in the phrase he uses “software is eating the world”. The book goes on to explain this in detail and give an abundance of examples. I love his quoting of:
"Science fiction writer Douglas Adams reduced the phenomenon to a set of three sardonic rules from the point of view of users of technology: Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
I have to be careful I don’t fall into this trap because I’m 61 and the change in the world are not "against the natural order of things.” Things like AI, self driving cars, Crisper/CAS9, block chain, VR. We’ll see.
A mental model that got shored up by Venkatesh was ephemeralization. The fact that technologies of all kinds are allowing us to do more with less. The world is dematerializing.
Venkatesh’s exploration of the social, Purists versus Pragmatists, Pragmatism versus Promethean and how software is “eating” the purist/pragmatic social classes and how they are rebelling. I can’t but help thinking that this is because the world is run by people older than thirty-five and who feel the world shifting against what they thinks of as "natural order of things.”
Venkatesh writes about the networked and geographic worlds and paints them in a new way. New for me and this is the type of cognitive stretching I love and look for in a good book. I ended up not agreeing with 100% but I am wondering if my disagreement is rational given I’m 61. I have to wonder. Lots more great stuff here.
I found these short dense chapters to be on topics that stretched my cognitive abilities and produces new insights into social life. His main thesis can be summed up in the phrase he uses “software is eating the world”. The book goes on to explain this in detail and give an abundance of examples. I love his quoting of:
"Science fiction writer Douglas Adams reduced the phenomenon to a set of three sardonic rules from the point of view of users of technology: Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
I have to be careful I don’t fall into this trap because I’m 61 and the change in the world are not "against the natural order of things.” Things like AI, self driving cars, Crisper/CAS9, block chain, VR. We’ll see.
A mental model that got shored up by Venkatesh was ephemeralization. The fact that technologies of all kinds are allowing us to do more with less. The world is dematerializing.
Venkatesh’s exploration of the social, Purists versus Pragmatists, Pragmatism versus Promethean and how software is “eating” the purist/pragmatic social classes and how they are rebelling. I can’t but help thinking that this is because the world is run by people older than thirty-five and who feel the world shifting against what they thinks of as "natural order of things.”
Venkatesh writes about the networked and geographic worlds and paints them in a new way. New for me and this is the type of cognitive stretching I love and look for in a good book. I ended up not agreeing with 100% but I am wondering if my disagreement is rational given I’m 61. I have to wonder. Lots more great stuff here.
October 2, 2022
Silicon Valley is not just a geographic marker but a cultural one. Although Rao is based in LA, his career has revolved around tech and his writing is borne of this milieu. I mention this because I think this book gives the deepest insight into some of political and socio-cultural ideology underpinning Silicon Valley “tech culture”.
All of this stems from Marc Andreessen’s famous adage “software is eating the world”. Rao expands on this principle. On the one hand, software is a major paradigm shift for the global economy that Rao likens to other soft technologies like money and writing. It is touching and changing every industry, in every facet of life.
But beyond this, Rao argues there is a cultural shift happening enabled by software and tech culture. That software enables a more democratic, agile, experimentalist, “hacker ethos” culture that will bring humanity closer to its full potential. It is breaking down many of the bureaucratic and authoritarian institutions to pave for something greater.
It’s a perspective that I believe is core to how many people who work in software or lead companies in tech prescribe to, even if unknowingly. What I found most interesting is the level of techno-optimism, consequences be damned, that pervades this perspective. For example, the book argues that software culture is inherently anti-authoritarian. Published in 2015, it was riding on the experiences of #Occupy and the Arab Spring, but I don’t think in the early 2020s we can see the argument in the same perspective. Given what we know now about the ability of social media to directly enable authoritarian capabilities both in the US and around the world.
It is this utopian belief in technology that I think is shielding itself from criticism. Rao argues that in the face of software enabled threats “*the best way through it is through it”.* I think this is an incredibly dangerous way of thinking, and I still consider myself a relative techno-optimist.
Undoubtedly, many of Rao’s observations will ring true in the coming decades, but there’s definitely a need to temper some of this perspective. My hope is that ongoing clash between Silicon Valley culture and more traditional institutions breeds something new that combines both perspectives. Let’s hope it works out.
All of this stems from Marc Andreessen’s famous adage “software is eating the world”. Rao expands on this principle. On the one hand, software is a major paradigm shift for the global economy that Rao likens to other soft technologies like money and writing. It is touching and changing every industry, in every facet of life.
But beyond this, Rao argues there is a cultural shift happening enabled by software and tech culture. That software enables a more democratic, agile, experimentalist, “hacker ethos” culture that will bring humanity closer to its full potential. It is breaking down many of the bureaucratic and authoritarian institutions to pave for something greater.
It’s a perspective that I believe is core to how many people who work in software or lead companies in tech prescribe to, even if unknowingly. What I found most interesting is the level of techno-optimism, consequences be damned, that pervades this perspective. For example, the book argues that software culture is inherently anti-authoritarian. Published in 2015, it was riding on the experiences of #Occupy and the Arab Spring, but I don’t think in the early 2020s we can see the argument in the same perspective. Given what we know now about the ability of social media to directly enable authoritarian capabilities both in the US and around the world.
It is this utopian belief in technology that I think is shielding itself from criticism. Rao argues that in the face of software enabled threats “*the best way through it is through it”.* I think this is an incredibly dangerous way of thinking, and I still consider myself a relative techno-optimist.
Undoubtedly, many of Rao’s observations will ring true in the coming decades, but there’s definitely a need to temper some of this perspective. My hope is that ongoing clash between Silicon Valley culture and more traditional institutions breeds something new that combines both perspectives. Let’s hope it works out.
January 13, 2021
I like Venkatesh Rao. A lot. Many people have said a lot of good things about his writings.
This work was described as a must-read to understand where the internet-led future is taking us. However, I found several problems with the book.
Firstly, it presents a techno-utopian vision of the future. It really doesn't appreciate that we could actually be going towards the end of the world.
Secondly, much of what I read in the book isn't new. Maybe those were new insights when he first wrote it. But, when I'm reading it in 2020, I feel like I knew almost everything in the book. That's primarily because I have been in the understanding-future circle for quite some time. For people who haven't explored that thought-space, this book will provide many insights.
Thirdly, the book frames everything from a Silicon Valley perspective. It explains everything through the language of Silicon Valley. This was a turn-off for me. I have seen the insights being explained in the language of Systems Theory. And I prefer that language over this.
Should people read this? Absolutely yes. But, keep in mind the drawbacks I mentioned.
This work was described as a must-read to understand where the internet-led future is taking us. However, I found several problems with the book.
Firstly, it presents a techno-utopian vision of the future. It really doesn't appreciate that we could actually be going towards the end of the world.
Secondly, much of what I read in the book isn't new. Maybe those were new insights when he first wrote it. But, when I'm reading it in 2020, I feel like I knew almost everything in the book. That's primarily because I have been in the understanding-future circle for quite some time. For people who haven't explored that thought-space, this book will provide many insights.
Thirdly, the book frames everything from a Silicon Valley perspective. It explains everything through the language of Silicon Valley. This was a turn-off for me. I have seen the insights being explained in the language of Systems Theory. And I prefer that language over this.
Should people read this? Absolutely yes. But, keep in mind the drawbacks I mentioned.
October 18, 2018
A collection of blog posts from the author of the Ribbon Farm blog that explores the cultural impact of software on society. He praises agile development where teams learn and evolve over time with customer feedback, rather than having strict plans with finite end goals. He also dives into the ideas of James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games (one of my favourite reads of last year) and suggests building software in an exploratory way, with a pluralistic pursuit of infinite potential futures by many as the only way to achieve the best outcomes.
Instead of supporting recent concerns around the dangers of automation, he believes in a positive long term outcome for society, noting we can’t predict how the specifics of the future will turn out, only the overall direction – the short-term is path dependent but the long term of technological innovation is inevitable.
A wonderful exploration of iterative development, the power of networks, and the evolution of ideas.
Instead of supporting recent concerns around the dangers of automation, he believes in a positive long term outcome for society, noting we can’t predict how the specifics of the future will turn out, only the overall direction – the short-term is path dependent but the long term of technological innovation is inevitable.
A wonderful exploration of iterative development, the power of networks, and the evolution of ideas.
April 28, 2019
This is about how Information Technology is changing (Revolutionising? Eating?) the world. I found it interesting, and if I understood IT better I would have likely understood the essays better. The concepts were a wee bit beyond me. I understood the premise is that technology is changing our society in ways we do not understand. Rao questions whether understanding them is important. Is a grand narrative useful? He favours freedom, creativity, and open source as a basis for society.
Could Rao be an early contributor to of Noah Yuval Harari describes as a religion based on the internet? Watch this space and get someone who understands coding to explain it to you.
Could Rao be an early contributor to of Noah Yuval Harari describes as a religion based on the internet? Watch this space and get someone who understands coding to explain it to you.
June 8, 2018
I stumbled on the writer's blog and found some of his posts insightful, like this one - the fine art of opportunism. I bought his book which is a collection of essays hoping to find new ideas, mostly around technology. But the book was rather stale for my taste and reads more like a textbook. I couldn't get through it.
December 27, 2022
Author does what he was supposed to do very well, write the happy path and persuade people as encouraged by his employer VC. That being said, probably, there is a lot truth there too (we are seeing since) but inconclusive without addressing the against ideas and hard to take these risks.
Personally, I liked his analogies for technical concepts from the social order and history, and reading Deleuze and finite and infinite games became a must for me.
Personally, I liked his analogies for technical concepts from the social order and history, and reading Deleuze and finite and infinite games became a must for me.
November 28, 2021
An interesting read that dives deep into how modern technology is shaping the world.
Evidence is presented for the optimism of technological advancements and how there are 2 main viewpoints when it comes to said advancements.
Interesting.
Evidence is presented for the optimism of technological advancements and how there are 2 main viewpoints when it comes to said advancements.
Interesting.
November 10, 2017
Unironically life-changing.
July 10, 2018
Making sense
All these essays allowed lots of thoughts and theories that I have had throughout the years to make sense by framing everything under easy to grasp analogies.
All these essays allowed lots of thoughts and theories that I have had throughout the years to make sense by framing everything under easy to grasp analogies.
August 7, 2018
Enjoyed every sentence.
May 17, 2021
Interesting read.
I appreciate some of the concepts introduced that describes the software world ... yet at the same time, I am not so sure some parts oversimplify the world.
I appreciate some of the concepts introduced that describes the software world ... yet at the same time, I am not so sure some parts oversimplify the world.
June 1, 2016
I've been working in the software industry for over five years now, and before that I was trained to be a Software Engineer. And I've been using Software and the Internet for quite some time before that. Yet all these years, I never really understood what the Software revolution was and why it's so seminal. The problem possibly being the fact that we are living through some of the most rapidly changing times in human history and are surrounded by the whirlwind that prevents us from finding our bearings. All these millennia, reality reluctantly tugged along imagination. Now things we could never've imagined are changing our lives in fundamental ways. That has been made possible by the explosive ubiquity of software. In a way, the internet is already what it has always promised to be- an extension of our minds, a gigantic superintelligent being in which we're all individual, limited, unintelligent neurons.
Venkat borrows theories and ideas from Economics, Cultural History, Software Development, fuses them with insightful anecdotes and builds interesting ladders onto new Thought Processes. This is very much in spirit with his predictions of how people will collaborate and build new societies in his Networked Utopia where ideas will float around freely and people who see opportunities early will be able to leverage disproportionate profits. As much as I am taken over by his view of the future, I'm fairly reluctant to embrace its infinite possibilities because utopias, right from Renaissance to Communism to now Software Revolution, get corrupted in unforeseen ways. Software is cool, but I guess that's all it really is as far as I can see. Humans are incredibly inventive at first stumbling across the solution, then creating problems.
But I recommend these essays to anyone who makes money from his relationship with software because all philosophy apart, this is an astonishingly useful manual for trying to navigate through this increasingly explosive economy.
Venkat borrows theories and ideas from Economics, Cultural History, Software Development, fuses them with insightful anecdotes and builds interesting ladders onto new Thought Processes. This is very much in spirit with his predictions of how people will collaborate and build new societies in his Networked Utopia where ideas will float around freely and people who see opportunities early will be able to leverage disproportionate profits. As much as I am taken over by his view of the future, I'm fairly reluctant to embrace its infinite possibilities because utopias, right from Renaissance to Communism to now Software Revolution, get corrupted in unforeseen ways. Software is cool, but I guess that's all it really is as far as I can see. Humans are incredibly inventive at first stumbling across the solution, then creating problems.
But I recommend these essays to anyone who makes money from his relationship with software because all philosophy apart, this is an astonishingly useful manual for trying to navigate through this increasingly explosive economy.
March 17, 2017
This is a very interesting book (or series of essays) on the Andreessen's school of thought "Software is eating the world". The author is extremely lucid on his analyses and theories, explaining how we arrived to the current model, and what are its possible implications. This really helped me organize random thoughts about Software revolution in a coherent manner. Highly recommended
Here are some of my takeaways:
"This is perhaps the single most important thing to understand about the revolution that we have labeled software eating the world: it is being led by young people, and proceeding largely without adult supervision (though with many adults participating). This has unexpected consequences."
"what the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years."
“we see the world through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”,
"Something must be done. This is something. This must be done" => Politician's syllogism
"What is new is its growing ability to dominate the geographic world. The story of software eating the world is the also the story of networks eating geography."
"There are two major subplots to this story. The first subplot is about bits dominating atoms. The second subplot is about the rise of a new culture of problem-solving."
"When software eats history this way, as it is happening, the ability to forget becomes a more important political, economic and cultural concern than the ability to remember.,"
Here are some of my takeaways:
"This is perhaps the single most important thing to understand about the revolution that we have labeled software eating the world: it is being led by young people, and proceeding largely without adult supervision (though with many adults participating). This has unexpected consequences."
"what the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years."
“we see the world through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”,
"Something must be done. This is something. This must be done" => Politician's syllogism
"What is new is its growing ability to dominate the geographic world. The story of software eating the world is the also the story of networks eating geography."
"There are two major subplots to this story. The first subplot is about bits dominating atoms. The second subplot is about the rise of a new culture of problem-solving."
"When software eats history this way, as it is happening, the ability to forget becomes a more important political, economic and cultural concern than the ability to remember.,"
March 31, 2021
Writing
Rao founded and regularly contributes to his blog Ribbonfarm. As a consultant for Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and Andreesen Horowitz, he launched the Breaking Smart newsletter, which has been translated into multiple languages. He's also written for Aeon, The Atlantic, Forbes, and been a guest on The Atavist's Longform podcast. In 2011, Rao published Tempo, a book on strategy and decision-making which has been praised by David Allen and Daniel H. Pink. His theories have influenced curator Troy Conrad Therrien's work at the Guggenheim Museum, and the 2018 Guggenheim Bilbao exhibition Architectural Effects prominently showcased his work. He is also known to have coined the terms "premium mediocre" and "domestic cozy".
Rao founded and regularly contributes to his blog Ribbonfarm. As a consultant for Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and Andreesen Horowitz, he launched the Breaking Smart newsletter, which has been translated into multiple languages. He's also written for Aeon, The Atlantic, Forbes, and been a guest on The Atavist's Longform podcast. In 2011, Rao published Tempo, a book on strategy and decision-making which has been praised by David Allen and Daniel H. Pink. His theories have influenced curator Troy Conrad Therrien's work at the Guggenheim Museum, and the 2018 Guggenheim Bilbao exhibition Architectural Effects prominently showcased his work. He is also known to have coined the terms "premium mediocre" and "domestic cozy".
April 10, 2016
Can skip over some issues of privilege and social justice in places which I think is the only real flaw of this series of essays. But putting those gripes aside the worldview articulated here is very persuasive. If you work in technology I would say this is required reading. You might discover some new principles to work, play and live by (or be confirmed in the ones you already do these things by). If this is the California ideology that has become so fashionable to slam, then I'll take it.
October 17, 2016
Best "software eating the world" elaboration you can get. 20 essays from bright mind of V Rao.
June 2, 2020
Great for information workers, this dude is a genius maybe. A successful indie corporate consultant. Learn interesting talking points for the water cooler or business development meetings.
October 26, 2015
Nice read.
Read
January 28, 2019Much of the commentary around tech right now is negative, but Breaking Smart makes an intellectually rigorous case for how a world eaten by software may be the best one yet.
Rao borrows theories and ideas from Economics, Cultural History, and Software Development to suggest a way of thinking about what’s going in the world and where the future is headed.
If you work in any industry that is touched by software (which is quickly becoming all of them), I think this is a good introduction to understanding how software changes the rules.
if you only read one chapter, the Tinkering vs. Goals is my favorite.
Rao borrows theories and ideas from Economics, Cultural History, and Software Development to suggest a way of thinking about what’s going in the world and where the future is headed.
If you work in any industry that is touched by software (which is quickly becoming all of them), I think this is a good introduction to understanding how software changes the rules.
if you only read one chapter, the Tinkering vs. Goals is my favorite.
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