 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 The Anarchist In The LibraryHow The Clash Between Freedom And Control Is Hacking The Real World And Crashing The Systemby Siva Vaidhyanathan May 4, 2004
DescriptionFrom Napster to Total Information Awareness to flash mobs, the debate over information technology in our lives has revolved around a single question: How closely do we want cyberspace to resemble the real world? Siva Vaidhyanathan enters this debate with a seminal insight: While we've been busy debating how to make cyberspace imitate the world, the world has been busy imitating cyberspace. More and more of our social, political, and religious activities are modeling themselves after the World Wide Web. Vaidhyanathan tells us the key information structure of our time, and the key import from cyberspace into the world, is the "peer-to-peer network." Peer-to-peer networks have always existed--but with the rise of electronic communication, they are suddenly coming into their own. And they are drawing the outlines of a battle for information that will determine much of the culture and politics of our century, affecting everything from society to terrorism, from religion to the latest social fads. The Anarchist in the Library is a radically original look at how this battle defines one of the major fault lines of twenty-first-century civilization. Reviews"Siva Vaidhyanathan has done that rare thing--induced me to rethink my position, revise my conclusions, and enjoy doing it. (And he quotes me accurately.)" "What a thrilling discovery this book is: erudite, eloquent imaginative and personable all at once, The Anarchist in the Library will become not only the ur-text in an increasingly important field, but also the one that is certainly the most fun to read." "This beautifully written and widely informed work weaves together a thousand threads into a rich and convincing story about just what's at stake in the digital age. As Vaidhyanathan powerfully shows, what's at stake has ultimately little to do with things digital. We face a fundamental choice about the nature of cultural freedom. The Internet presents this choice. Against the background of the tapestry that this rising star of culture has crafted, the right choice seems clear." "Siva Vaidhyanathan has done that rare thing--induced me to rethink my position, revise my conclusions, and enjoy doing it. (And he quotes me accurately.)" Selling TerritoryWorld |
|
 |
