Status Updates From The Sovereign Individual: T...

I think these ideas would have benefited from being presented in a less...assertive way.

They feel very very sure of themselves and the reader isn't helping at all.

I'm still in the first chapter, but they're all like "Everything will be privatized! Even government!"

That seems to me to be a very rosy eyed view. Especially considering the rise in popularity of socialism and communism in western countries. Things are becoming more controlled by government, not less.

I'm trying, but most of the time I'm like...wow, they got that really wrong.

Also, while in some broad sense of the word these authors did pick up on social trends and predict some aspects of how the world changed during the information age, a lot of what they are saying or said is wildly inaccurate.

They are kind of falling under the fallacy of the long march of history and forgetting that there is nothing new under the sun. Look at that, I can use cliches as arguments too.

I have to admit, I'm having a hard time with this book.

The writers are depending more on rhetorical flourishes than reasoned arguments. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the biblical, shakespearean, aristotlean, and other classical quotes peppering each paragraph, but as much as I think there is great wisdom in the thinkers of the past, I don't really think they serve as proof of future predictions.

Well.

That didn't age well. I guess this book was first published in 1997? It's talking about how stupid it is that the American government targeted a single man. That labelling a single man, albeit a very rich man, as a transnational terrorist is just ludicrous. How could Osama Bin Laden actually threaten an entire nation?

Uh. Yeah. Didn't age well.