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Uncommon Sense: Out of the Box Thinking for An In the Box World
"Peter Cochrane is one of our most far-sighted visionaries, and brings brilliant clarity and focus to our understanding of ourselves and our technologies, and of how profoundly each is transforming the other." -Douglas Adams, Author, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In Uncommon Sense, Peter Cochrane's follow up to the radical 108 Tips for Time Traveller, Peter explains how very simple analysis allows the prediction of such debacles as the 3G auction and the subsequent collapse of an industry, whilst simple-minded thinking is dangerous in the context of a world that is predominantly chaotic and out of control.
People balked when Peter suggested a wholesale move to eWorking, the rise of email and text messaging, and the dotcom regime mirroring the boom and bust cycle of the industrial revolution. His predictions of the use and growth of mobile devices and communication, or use of chip implants for humans to replace ID cards, passports, and medical records, or iris scanners and fingerprint readers - were all seen as unlikely. Today they are a reality.
How then will the world react to his predictions as set out in Uncommon Sense of a networked world of distributed ignorance and sharing overcoming an old world of concentrated skill and control? To everything becoming 'Napsterised' in every dimension, where storage and processing power cost nothing, and become connected without the help of the old network companies? A world where individuals create their own networks, where laws of copyright and resale, and old business models have to be changed as giant industries are dragged kicking and screaming out of the 19th Century and into the 21st?
Peter Cochrane poses and answers questions, suggests solutions, and raises red flags on issues that need to be addressed. Tables, diagrams, pictures and illustrations generously support all of the text, with the most difficult aspects illustrated by simulations and other material on a CD and links to a web site with an ongoing expansion of the themes addressed.
In Uncommon Sense, Peter Cochrane's follow up to the radical 108 Tips for Time Traveller, Peter explains how very simple analysis allows the prediction of such debacles as the 3G auction and the subsequent collapse of an industry, whilst simple-minded thinking is dangerous in the context of a world that is predominantly chaotic and out of control.
People balked when Peter suggested a wholesale move to eWorking, the rise of email and text messaging, and the dotcom regime mirroring the boom and bust cycle of the industrial revolution. His predictions of the use and growth of mobile devices and communication, or use of chip implants for humans to replace ID cards, passports, and medical records, or iris scanners and fingerprint readers - were all seen as unlikely. Today they are a reality.
How then will the world react to his predictions as set out in Uncommon Sense of a networked world of distributed ignorance and sharing overcoming an old world of concentrated skill and control? To everything becoming 'Napsterised' in every dimension, where storage and processing power cost nothing, and become connected without the help of the old network companies? A world where individuals create their own networks, where laws of copyright and resale, and old business models have to be changed as giant industries are dragged kicking and screaming out of the 19th Century and into the 21st?
Peter Cochrane poses and answers questions, suggests solutions, and raises red flags on issues that need to be addressed. Tables, diagrams, pictures and illustrations generously support all of the text, with the most difficult aspects illustrated by simulations and other material on a CD and links to a web site with an ongoing expansion of the themes addressed.
- GenresScience
237 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2004
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About the author
Peter Cochrane
28 books4 followersPeter Cochrane’s writing about war includes the award-winning Simpson and the Donkey: The Making of a Legend; the companion volume to the ABC TV series Australians at War; and two studies of wartime photography, The Western Front, 1916–18 and Tobruk 1941. Cochrane is also the author of Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy, which won the Age Book of the Year award and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History, and two works of fiction: the novella Governor Bligh and the Short Man and the recently published novel The Making of Martin Sparrow.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 11, 2009
Based on just the content, this book deserves 3-stars. The two-star rating comes from the glaring discrepancy between what the book is and what the book is marketed to be. I strongly disagree with the assertion that this book is "out of box thinking" or that it is "a series of remarkable insights." I also do not think that has helped me do any of things listed on the back cover. All of these marketing ploys enticed me to read the book, and the book failed to deliver.
Instead, this book is simply a collection of the author's commentary on various aspects of the world with a strong focus on technology. Many of his ideas are interesting, and I am generally amused by the little stories he tells. The biggest problem that I have with the content itself is that each chapter (appropriately labeled as "Bytes") all stand alone and are very short. As a result, he spends little time making any arguments to back up his opinions. For a number of chapters, I felt that I either already understood and agreed with his point or I did not understand/agree and he did not give enough information to either explain or convince me of his point. In either case, why even bother reading it? It was worth finishing but not worth picking up again.
Instead, this book is simply a collection of the author's commentary on various aspects of the world with a strong focus on technology. Many of his ideas are interesting, and I am generally amused by the little stories he tells. The biggest problem that I have with the content itself is that each chapter (appropriately labeled as "Bytes") all stand alone and are very short. As a result, he spends little time making any arguments to back up his opinions. For a number of chapters, I felt that I either already understood and agreed with his point or I did not understand/agree and he did not give enough information to either explain or convince me of his point. In either case, why even bother reading it? It was worth finishing but not worth picking up again.
February 15, 2013
http://pratalife.blogspot.com/2008/06...
Cochrane has a nice practice of introducing many of his articles with a related quote. One of my favourites is from Douglas Adams:
"Technology is the name we give to stuff that doesn't work properly yet."
Cochrane has a nice practice of introducing many of his articles with a related quote. One of my favourites is from Douglas Adams:
"Technology is the name we give to stuff that doesn't work properly yet."
August 27, 2010
The title should be "(Very) Common Sense". This is, as any review, a subjective opinion, and some people may not be aware of some of the topics and therefore consider the book interesting, but even so, the repetition, arrogance and simplicity in many of the arguments, make me doubt anyone will find it to even broadly meeting the expectations from the blurb.
May 10, 2012
possibly the dumbest book i've ever had to read for school
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews