Move Fast and Break Things by Jonathan Taplin Book Summary - Review (AudioBook)

Move Fast and Break Things by Jonathan Taplin Book Summary - Review (AudioBook)

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As a hub of technological. Creativity. Silicon, valley, is also celebrated. As a location, where someone with a brilliant idea, will not only change whole markets, and make a profit, but also make the planet a safer place. But is that a precise, image. Stories, about media, giants, invasion, of privacy. Data hoarding, and growing, income, while artists and creators, fail to get by, tarnish, the image. According to writer jonathan, taplin. We have to listen to the advice, and calm down a bit from allowing massive monopolies, to be the facilitators. Of our intelligence. If we want to continue, flourishing. The better thing to do with our culture will be to support the artists. Not to accept their jobs free of cost like something disposable, to enjoy. But let's have a look behind the silicon, valley doors, and explore what's going on. Chapter 1 the state has funded some of our greatest scientific. Advancements. What is it that leads the environment, of science, and innovation. Is it often a clever, imaginative. And revenue-seeking. Businessman. In their garage, grinding away. Government, grants and the public sector are also the ones that come up with creativity. For instance. Take the internet. The invention, that brought this invaluable. Instrument, to existence, was developed, by an american, engineer, called doug engelbart, in 1968.. Anglebart, launched his nls, system that year which featured windows. Visuals. Teleconferencing. The cursor, word processing. And a shared real-time, editor, or online, system. Yet englebart, hasn't done any of this on his own, it was sponsored, by darpa, the us-based. Defense, advanced, research projects, agency. To establish, groundbreaking. Technologies. With the possibility. For possible, military, use. The nls, of engelbart, formed the backbone, of arpanet. The very first online data transmission, and obtaining, network, rendering it an early version of the internet. The tcp. Iprotocol. Suite, also produced thanks to darpa support. Was also the first to use arpanet. As the basic template, for processing, and transmitting, files, tcp. Ip, is still used now, allowing all linked computers, on a network to interpret, one another. Many of the fundamental, technologies. We use now were not guided by benefit. But instead by government-sponsored. Benefits. Another instance, being bell labs. Many telecom, firms were fighting for customers, for their networks, at the turn of the 20th, century. Contributing, to an undisciplined. Twisted, mass of wires, hung along the streets of many towns in the u.s. Bell and western, union were authorized, by the federal communications. Commission, fcc. To merge and incorporate, the smaller corporations. Into a single consolidated. Structure. There was one significant, requirement. For the fcc. Contact, rates must be limited, and study and advancement, that would improve humanity. Had to be invested, on a certain amount of income. In 1925. With the explicit, purpose, of developing, the invention. Bell labs was created. Owing to government, services, made feasible, by tax money, it went on to develop the transistor. The microchip. Mobile phones, among many more inventions, we use every day. But how did we come to think that innovation, is fantastic, for the market economy, and the profit-driven. Tech industry. While regulators, are deemed an oppressive, force that is bad for business. We're going to find out, chapter 2 libertarian. Politicians. While evading, taxes, have taken over the tech sector. In part, the notion of a great poor government, can be attributed, to a group of libertarians. Born in the 1980s. In the u.s. The projects, of the author ein rand and the economic, theory of milton friedman, influenced, many of them. As such, under rand's philosophy.

That Greed and the survival, of the fittest ethos, are good for humanity. They were dedicated, to resisting, government legislation. And taxes. In the technology. Industry. Peter thiel, founder of paypal, is one of the most important, influencing, powers for libertarianism. By reading and reviewing, ein rand's studies, peter thiel liked libertarianism. As a youngster. As a consequence. Teal uses an excerpt, from rand's book the fountainhead. As a key principle, of his company. Who will stop me, it was part of his libertarian. Ideology. To smash the dominance, of banks and credit card firms when teal created paypal, in 1998. Thereby, resisting, government, controls, and avoiding, taxation. Teal's, ideals, spread quickly across silicon, valley, especially, after paypal, was acquired by ebay for 1 billion. In 2002.. Soon, as past paypal workers, went on to build youtube, linkedin. And yelp, both businesses, that helped transform, the online, world, teal self-branded. Paypal, mafia, took over. Amazon, ceo, jeff bezos, practices, almost the identical, ideology. And as someone who has immensely, learned from the principles, of libertarianism. In specific. Bezos, took advantage, of a 1992. Supreme court decisio. And which specifies. That if there is no retail, place or other physical, activity, in that state, a corporation. Does not have to pay state taxes. So while customers, can purchase stuff from amazon, in arkansas. Since there is no physical, shop for the firm, it doesn't have to pay those taxes. Enabling, bezos, to undermine, local competition. This is a big reason, why between 1992. And 2015. Amazon, was able to help put, 5400. Independent, bookstores. And music stores, out of business, in the us. It is not just bezos, who is escaping, taxes. Facebook, and google are both exploiting, an absence of physical, existence, to stop paying uncle sam, and as a result, the u.s, is expected, to lose about 60 billion dollars, in tax income per year. As we will see over the next few sections, the sinister, libertarian. Principles, of the technology, sector have indeed given way to dangerous, monopolies. Taking over the internet. Chapter 3 monopolies, have long been a problem, and threatened to jeopardize, fair rivalry. Google reportedly. Has an 88. Share of all searches and advertisements. On the market, while facebook, has a 77. Share of social media. Why don't their laws condemn such monopolization. We ought to go back to the founding fathers, to address this. Thomas jefferson, received, a firsthand, view of how much harm a monopoly, would inflict by seeing the awful effects the east india trading company, had on britain as a foreign leader in europe. The business, had become, so big that they were the ones who were drafting the laws that regulated, the trading routes of the country. Over everything. Their revenue, theory, resulted, in the 10 million deaths caused by the great famine of bengal, in 1770. After pressuring producers, to produce opium instead of grain. The bill of rights, did not provide, provisions, regarding monopolies. Despite thomas jefferson's, great attempts. Alexander. Hamilton, felt that politics, should be able to govern money, never the other way around. Although jefferson, was suspicious, of the influence, that a new national, bank could exert, the financial, institution. Was supported, by hamilton. The government, controlled, only 20. Of the bank's, assets, while private corporations. Such as hamilton, and his wealthy peers monopolized. The remainder. This is a significant, part of why, like the bill of rights, founding principles, never contain, safeguards, against unfair, monopolies. A hundred years later, in 1890. One such legislation. Was officially, passed, the sherman, act. It claimed that penalties, and incarceration. Could be levied on those trying to monopolize. Some field of commerce. The legislation. Was used by teddy roosevelt. To smash the attempted, union between john d rockefeller's. Standard oil and jp, morgan's northern securities. According to roosevelt. It damages, the country, and free market, when a limited group of enormously, wealthy individuals. Joins together for the primary aim of obtaining, money and influence. While this was a leap in the correct direction. Robert bork, the judge, and legal expert, continue, to take a major step backward, towards the u.s. As a tutor at yale law school, where he gave seminars, on antitrust. Law, bork gained a reputation. For himself, in the 1960s. He said that consumer, protection, was the main indicator, of an economy. In the economic, viewpoint, of bork, monopolies. Were inherently, favorable, to customers.

So Antitrust, laws were negative. His lectures, became so influential. That he would continue, to work under both the regimes, of nixon, and ford, at which time the filings, of the sherman act fell dramatically. Excellent news for big companies. Today, the ideas, of bork, still influence, the justice, department's, anti-trust, department. The government branch responsible, for marketplace. Policing, and maintaining, fair competition. Chapter 4 to manipulate, politics, in their favor, large tech giants, use their market supremacy. The 62, richest, individuals. On the forbes top 400, list had as much income as the poorest 50 percent, of the world's population. As of 2017.. It is also worth remembering, that eight of the top 10 richest, individuals, make their money from technology. One means of making money online, is by collecting, rent. From a financial, perspective. Rent is the cash received, when someone owns a valuable, and attractive, asset, such as the google controlled, advertisement. Space. Because so much of what internet, consumers, are subjected, to is regulated, by google, they can set the prices for how much advertisers. Are paid. Similarly. Amazon, owns a large majority, of the book and printing industry, as a result. Publishers, that do not afford not to sell to amazon, consumers, can claim outrageous, prices. These are only two broader, examples, of how, by rent seeking, big tech companies, get wealthy. Another way to raise income is by leveraging, their size and influence, to place pressure on washington. Google, is the biggest company, in the us, if we measure size by market capital, or the cumulative, value of the stock of a company. It dominates, five of the most influential, websites. As well as all but one of the top 14, commercial, internet, features, and uses its remarkable, technical, supremacy. To affect federal legislation. Google spends, 15 million. On lobbying, per year. What is even more alarming, is google's effect on the development, of public perception. In 2012. With a complete endorsement. From the film community. The stop online, piracy, act sopa, was presented, in congress. It urged users, on google's homepage, that year to tell congress, to vote against sopa. Why, since a major part of google's market, as the search for unlawfully, downloaded, songs and videos. An unprecedented. 1.8. Billion persons, viewed this letter, all of which overwhelmed, congressional, members, email servers, before the bill was eventually, dropped. Largely, thanks to the numerous, retired, google staff who serve in the federal, sector. Google still has considerable. Control, over regulators. At one time or the other, 53, employees, worked for both google and the white house. Chapter 5 crime as a huge corporation. Stealing, from musicians, and producers. In 2005. Mega upload, a site that authorized, everyone, to upload a movie or music file while offering incentives, to those who uploaded, significant, amounts of files, was launched by an entrepreneurial. Man called kim.com. Dot com's operation, has received about 12 billion individual, files, in just two years, generating, over, 174. Million dollars in sales. Due largely, to the distribution. Of illegal material. Mega upload users, accounted, for four percent, of global web traffic. Yet mega upload, was just the beginning. By 2015. The international. Chamber of commerce, reported, 1.7. Trillion dollars, in the number of counterfeit, products, shared around the world, more than 2 percent, of the entire economic, production, of the world. But who's taking advantage, of this trillion-dollar. Industry. The only assurance, is that it's not the individuals, who make the products. Many musicians, who used to make a decent living from royalties.

Have Been struggling, to get by since the advent of internet, piracy. Take levon, helm, the band's guitarist. And singer, who also performed, in the 1960s. With bob dylan. Helm wasn't one of the huge rock stars, but members of the band were able to survive, easily, off the profits from their records, thanks to their continuing, success. But in 2000. Napster, a file-sharing. Site, appeared and it all changed. Immediately. Helm and the other members of the band who didn't receive songwriting, bonuses, saw their earnings, declined to virtually, zero from around 100, 000, a year. In 1990. Levon, helm was diagnosed, with throat cancer, and while singing caused him considerable, discomfort. He had to start performing, live to generate the cash for his medical, expenses. Helm is far from being the only one in a case like that. The interactive, advertising. Bureau, reported that infringing, material, expenses, around 2 billion. A year for each entertainment, market. It also reports, that an additional, 456. Million dollars, will be created per year only by the advertisement. Of licensed material, if a legal material, were to be removed. The sad thing is that people are listening to more music and watching more videos. And still they make less money than ever before for many of the musicians, who perform these works. Chapter, 6 in the irresponsible. Search for data, free utilities. Frequently, violate, a user's, privacy. In today's, wired, world, there is a new catchphrase. If you're not the consumer. You are the commodity. It's a term that means that no portion of the internet, does not do any kind of business. This company, also includes, data processing. And it is corporations. Such as google and facebook, that are in the front line of this data gathering. Many individuals. Also see google as a helpful business, that provides a free tool to help them discover, what they're searching for. But the fact is that they gather as much information, from you as they can anytime, you visit google, which they sell to someone else in exchange. It was an immediate, hit since gmail was introduced, by google. Free with unrestricted. Storage, email service. What most people are unaware, of as that google scans each message to tailor the commercials, it sends you for the price of this service. If people understood, this when they signed up there would be far fewer users. Google goes for data like most harvesters. And thinks about the consequences. Afterward. This is why it took them two years to have a delete button for gmail. And that's why, when developing, their street view tool on google maps, they did not seek consent, until photographing. Everyone's, land and connecting, it to an address. Another business, that capitalizes. On your knowledge as facebook, with no regard to being responds. Ible. For it, their slogan, used to be run quickly and smash stuff, which means that then they would think about covering up their destruction. The success, of facebook, comes from allowing, individuals. To portray an idealized. Image of themselves, while harnessing, the simple desire, of a person to be liked. This has resulted, in 1.23. Billion, daily users, all of whom create infinite quantities, of content, and private information. In 2014. For an average of 17, minutes a day, facebook, users produced, data. If that is compounded, by 1.23. Billion people, that's about 40, 000 years of data per day and 15 million years of data in 2014. Alone. Facebook. Sadly, has a pretty bad consumer, privacy, history. They created beacon, in 2007. An app that told your friends if you ordered something, on a partner, platform. Yet beacon was an opt-only, program. Meaning that if you did not want all your mates to hear about your transactions.

You Had to figure out about it and turn that off. Obviously. People were very angry about beacon, but facebook, declined, to uninstall, it until they had the data worth several weeks. Chapter, 7 to build a sustainable, world for all art and culture, are key. Without, big, intrusive. And unethical, tech companies, is it possible, to have a free internet. Are we able to deter giants. The response, to this is, yes we can. But first, we need to work cooperatively. Collaboration. Has so long been at the core of the progress, of mankind. And it will continue to benefit, us now. Since they cooperated. Our oldest, predecessors. Excelled. Some hunted while others kept the fire going at the shelter, and it will continue to see us flourish in this kind of partnership. The drop in industrial, employment, has struck many places, across america, hard. In specific. One town was chattanooga, tennessee. Yet fortune, seemed to be laughing at the city. The volkswagen, car company, established, a production, plant there after developing, a smart grid that would accommodate, their needs. This system, had the additional, advantage, of providing, a high-speed, fiber optic network for the town's citizens. The concern, was that this would ruin comcast's, monopoly, on the internet, in the region, so the media company, threatened to sue the city to close down the system. Having a strong organization. Like comcast, might fear some people in your region, but the people of chattanooga. Grouped together and their energy won the day and they had to keep their system. So groups that work together, are essential, to battling these big corporations. Art and literature, are other potent weapons. It will shed light on our oppressors, and encourage us to see how we have to strike back. Take the 1932. Book by aldous huxley, brave new world. It represents, a future with so much information, that is freely accessible, that it is viewed as distracting.

Meaningless, Noise. People do not read anymore. And facts are considered, little more than meaningless, instant gratification. Bits. Rings a bell, huxley's, piece of fiction, as we find ourselves, on the edge of knowledge saturation. Is now frighteningly, close to being real. If we don't take steps and stop until it's too far it's authors like huxley, who will sound the bell, warning us of where we are going. But we do need a well-considered. Plan. Chapter 8 it could be enough to fight back against tech companies, if artists, collaborate, to regulate their material. While the internet, has proved to be less than useful to many musicians, who learn that their art is unlawfully, published, it can also be the outlet that helps them to take back ownership, of their careers. Streaming, sites such as netflix, and spotify. Have been extremely, popular, in past years, but they have become very poor at producing, money for musicians. But to remedy, this there could be a way for musicians, to work together. By charging nominal, subscription. Fees, both have drawn huge numbers of consumers. This sums up to a lot of money, because since these providers, have a business structure, that doesn't cost them much to add additional, clients, the issue arises, as to how the cash can find its way to the artists, such as the. 558.9. Million dollars netflix, made in 2017.. Up until now, streaming, platforms, such as netflix, have become very confidential. On the agreements, they make with manufacturing. Firms, so that in discussions, they will continue, to have the edge. However, it could be feasible, to bring the advantage, back into the hands of artists, and producers, through collaboration. Cooperatives. Such as magnum, photos, are still holding strong. Founded by a group of 12 photographers. At the end of world war ii. Instead of turning them over to publishers. Members of this co-op, kept the copyright, to their works. This has made it easier for artists to continue, to make money off their art and to market the same photographs, to numerous, media around the world.

This Sort of artist-controlled. Structure, is also something that artists could gain from, a band could release their album on bandcamp. Which takes about 15 percent, of the sales received. Then they will release it on spotify, premium, a month later, which takes about 30. A month back the album can be played on the free versions, of spotify. And youtube, which take even longer. Enthusiastic. Supporters, won't wait because they're going to pay for band camps purchasing, prices, while more patient, fans are going to wait for the streaming, version. They would no doubt see a bigger payday, if musicians, had this kind of influence. But the only way they would rest leverage, away from powerful, powers, like spotify. And google, as if they join together, as part of an artist-run, co-op. There is always the potential, for a more equitable, future, even if the companies, are making the decisions, today. What we need to do is form an alliance, and get our fates under control. Move fast and break things, how facebook, google, and amazon, cornered culture, and undermine, democracy. By jonathan, taplin book review, a libertarian. Philosophy. That has kept billions of dollars away from the regimes, that originally, subsidized, the technologies. As fueling many giant tech firms. They've nourished an illicit production, scheme with their dishonest, domination. In the industry, that has held billions of dollars, out of the hands of performers. Singers, and other high quality, content, producers. They have also developed, a frightening, level of control, on politicians. Thus growing their penetration. Into internet, users personal, lives. This has contributed, to detrimental. Effects that aim to control, our access to data, thus critically, harming the livelihoods, of musicians, and the creative, industry. It would need groups of like-minded, people, musicians. And residents, to take back ownership, of their online, lives and jobs, if there is to be a path. Forward.

2020-11-25 06:59

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