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Book Cover
E-book
Author Wheeler, Tom, 1946- author.

Title From Gutenberg to Google : the history of our future / Tom Wheeler
Published Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [2019]
©2019

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 286 pages)
Contents Prologue -- Perspective. Connections have consequences -- Predicates. The original information revolution -- The first high-speed network and the death of distance -- The first electronic network and the end of time -- The road to revolution. Computing engines -- Connected computing -- The planet's most powerful and pervasive platform -- Our turn. History we are making -- Connecting forward -- Epilogue
Summary "In an era of seemingly instant change, it's easy to think that today's revolutions--in communications, business, and many areas of daily life--are unprecedented. Today's changes may be new and may be happening faster than ever before. But our ancestors at times were just as bewildered by rapid upheavals in what we now call "networks"--the physical links that bind any society together. In this fascinating book, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler brings to life the two great network revolutions of the past and uses them to help put in perspective the confusion, uncertainty, and even excitement most people face today. The first big network revolution was the invention of movable-type printing in the fifteenth century. This book, its millions of predecessors, and even such broad trends as the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the multiple scientific revolutions of the past 500 years would not have been possible without that one invention. The second revolution came with the invention of the telegraph early in the nineteenth century. Never before had people been able to communicate over long distances faster than a horse could travel. Along with the development of the world's first high-speed network--the railroad--the telegraph upended centuries of stability and literally redrew the map of the world. Wheeler puts these past revolutions into the perspective of today, when rapid-fire changes in networking are upending the nature of work, personal privacy, education, the media, and nearly every other aspect of modern life. But he doesn't leave it there. Outlining "What's Next," he describes how artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, and the need for cybersecurity are laying the foundation for a third network revolution." -- Publisher's description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-274) and index
Notes Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed
Subject Communication and traffic -- History
Telecommunication systems -- History
Information networks -- History
Technological innovations -- History
Printing presses -- History
Computer networks.
Technology and civilization.
Printing -- History.
Railroads -- History.
Computer Communication Networks
COMPUTERS / Human-Computer Interaction.
COMPUTERS / Networking / Intranets & Extranets.
HISTORY / Europe / Western.
HISTORY / United States / 19th Century.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Electronics / Digital.
Communication and traffic
Information networks
Printing presses
Technological innovations
Telecommunication systems
Digitale Revolution
Kultur
Technologie
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Brookings Institution, issuing body.
LC no. 2023702557
ISBN 9780815735335
0815735332