The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age: Difference between revisions
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{{a|book review|}}{{author|William Rees-Mogg}} | {{a|book review|}}{{author|William Rees-Mogg}} may have been politician Jacob’s father, a lord of the realm, a natural small (and big) “c” conservative and scion of the British establishment, but he was no reactionary: in 1967, as editor of the The Times, he wrote a legendary editorial “who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?”<ref>Which you can read, with a Times subscription, [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/who-breaks-a-butterfly-on-a-wheel-williamreesmoggs-original-leader-in-full-l5zhdcm7g here]<ref> condemning Mick Jagger’s prosecution and conviction on drugs offences. | ||
Much later, in 1997, he and {{author|James Dale Davidson}} wrote {{br|The Sovereign Individual}}, a manifesto of sorts for the coming internet revolution. It was prescient: 1997 was the internet’s infancy, before Web 2.0 (the user-contributing internet) — let alone Web 3.0 (the crypto-metaverse) — properly took hold of the public imagination. In that regard, and at a distance of 25 years, some of its predictions are striking, as is its unorthodox reading of history. | Much later, in 1997, he and {{author|James Dale Davidson}} wrote {{br|The Sovereign Individual}}, a manifesto of sorts for the coming internet revolution. It was prescient: 1997 was the internet’s infancy, before Web 2.0 (the user-contributing internet) — let alone Web 3.0 (the crypto-metaverse) — properly took hold of the public imagination. In that regard, and at a distance of 25 years, some of its predictions are striking, as is its unorthodox reading of history. | ||
Still, it is to be taken with a grain or two of salt: the historical readings have a definite political/philosophical slant | Still, it is to be taken with a grain or two of salt: the historical readings have a definite political/philosophical slant. Nineteen ninety-seven was the height of received acceptance for ''laissez faire'' as a panacea for any cultural ill — the greatest threat to the conservative right was Bill Clinton (!!) — and the world was five years away from the series of [[millennial systemic shocks]] that have fractured the global system’s long peace. In hindsight the arguments should be taken for what they always were: an argument, not an irrefutable deduction from principles of solid logic. There are those on the right who still take latter view. | ||
===On [[crypto]]=== | ===On [[crypto]]=== | ||
Undoubtedly the {{br|Sovereign Individual}} anticipated cryptocurrency, though was unduly optimistic for its future as a liberating tool for the masses: | Undoubtedly the {{br|Sovereign Individual}} anticipated cryptocurrency, though was unduly optimistic for its future as a liberating tool for the masses: | ||
{{Quote|“Inflation as revenue option will be largely foreclosed by the emergence of cybermoney [...] In the Information Age, individuals will be able to use cybercurrencies and thus declare their monetary independence. When individuals can conduct their own monetary policies over the World Wide Web it will matter less or not at all that the state continues to control the industrial-era printing presses. Their importance for controlling the world's wealth will be transcended by mathematical algorithms that have no physical existence. In the new millennium, cybermoney controlled by private markets will supersede fiat money issued by governments.”}} | {{Quote|“Inflation as revenue option will be largely foreclosed by the emergence of cybermoney [...] In the Information Age, individuals will be able to use cybercurrencies and thus declare their monetary independence. When individuals can conduct their own monetary policies over the World Wide Web it will matter less or not at all that the state continues to control the industrial-era printing presses. Their importance for controlling the world's wealth will be transcended by mathematical algorithms that have no physical existence. In the new millennium, cybermoney controlled by private markets will supersede fiat money issued by governments.”}} | ||
Revision as of 08:34, 3 August 2022
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William Rees-Mogg may have been politician Jacob’s father, a lord of the realm, a natural small (and big) “c” conservative and scion of the British establishment, but he was no reactionary: in 1967, as editor of the The Times, he wrote a legendary editorial “who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?”<ref>Which you can read, with a Times subscription, here<ref> condemning Mick Jagger’s prosecution and conviction on drugs offences.
Much later, in 1997, he and James Dale Davidson wrote The Sovereign Individual, a manifesto of sorts for the coming internet revolution. It was prescient: 1997 was the internet’s infancy, before Web 2.0 (the user-contributing internet) — let alone Web 3.0 (the crypto-metaverse) — properly took hold of the public imagination. In that regard, and at a distance of 25 years, some of its predictions are striking, as is its unorthodox reading of history.
Still, it is to be taken with a grain or two of salt: the historical readings have a definite political/philosophical slant. Nineteen ninety-seven was the height of received acceptance for laissez faire as a panacea for any cultural ill — the greatest threat to the conservative right was Bill Clinton (!!) — and the world was five years away from the series of millennial systemic shocks that have fractured the global system’s long peace. In hindsight the arguments should be taken for what they always were: an argument, not an irrefutable deduction from principles of solid logic. There are those on the right who still take latter view.
On crypto
Undoubtedly the Sovereign Individual anticipated cryptocurrency, though was unduly optimistic for its future as a liberating tool for the masses:
“Inflation as revenue option will be largely foreclosed by the emergence of cybermoney [...] In the Information Age, individuals will be able to use cybercurrencies and thus declare their monetary independence. When individuals can conduct their own monetary policies over the World Wide Web it will matter less or not at all that the state continues to control the industrial-era printing presses. Their importance for controlling the world's wealth will be transcended by mathematical algorithms that have no physical existence. In the new millennium, cybermoney controlled by private markets will supersede fiat money issued by governments.”