Tom

Enlightening, thought provoking and frightening

Revisado: 03-19-25

This is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of AI, politics, civil society, and for that matter humanity. Yuval's perspective on information networks as the core driver of nations, politics, and religion is especially relevant and important to consider in the present moment.
If you are involved in creating, deploying, regulating or using AI systems that attempt to shape public opinion or political dialog you should read this book carefully, at least twice, then work to build self correcting mechanisms that foster truth and fairness.

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Still Relevant After 21 Years

Revisado: 06-08-21

I would rate this audiobook at 5 stars if they included a PDF of the charts and graphs. The visual information provided is a critical part of the story which becomes lost in the audio format. I resorted to buying the physical book and making my own PDF of the charts and graphs for reference. Really, it should not be that hard for the publisher to provide this.

The audiobook is a good way to access this material during commute time or other opportunities where listening is easier than reading. The concepts are as important to consider today as they were 20 years ago, especially with the advent of meme stocks and cryptocurrencies where "animal spirits" are far more influential than fundamental value. It is helpful to understand that these behaviors are not new, but have been around since the beginnings of investing.

Robert Shiller makes a good case that the Strong Form of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis is misguided, and that even the Semi-strong and Weak forms have holes.

While it may be difficult to profit from the information, it is clear that markets have periods of excess optimism and excess pessimism that inflate or depress prices for extended periods. It almost seems that the periods of "rational" investing behavior are actually a transition state between periods of increasing optimism or pessimism.

Any serious investor should read this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Crucial Concepts and Insights - Eye opening

Revisado: 10-31-19

It will be a slog to make it through this book. Consider it an exercise in patience. You need to know this stuff.

The lengthy academic format combined with flowery prose and an exhausting use of the word unprecedented get in the way of ideas and issues that really do need to be discussed and addressed.

The key concepts are:
- Trust in the fairness of a shared social contract is fundamental to effective society
- The balance of power on the internet is not weighted in your favor, and you have no idea how imbalanced things are
- The "smart people" running things spin grand visions, but do not have your best interests in mind
- The power of the internet is being used to generate engagement and manipulate behavior primarily for profit
- The tools and techniques are invisible to most people, so the degree of impact is not well understood
- The result is not healthy for a democratic society

Worth reading if you think democracy is a valuable construct.

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A Challenging Read, Worth The Effort

Revisado: 07-27-19

Paul Collier attempts to define the "Golden Mean" in Politics and Economics, while writing a prescription for walking us all back from the brink of destructive polarization. Truly a worthwhile and grand goal. In my view, he partially succeeds, but is only likely to reach the people who are already thoughtful and open minded about these sorts of things.

He claims that the goal of the book is not to change politicians minds, but to reach out and change the perspectives of everyday voters. I have a higher than average tolerance for academic lectures and "wonky" dialog and found it tough sledding. Seems likely the average consumer would lose patience before finishing the first chapter.

Paul describes a "well informed electorate" as one of the most important of public goods, and also one that is extremely hard to produce. A primary goal of the book is to help with this particular challenge.

To have a better chance of "reaching the masses" with these concepts, a short form summary with less economic and political jargon, that can be consumed by the average YouTube viewer in about 15 minutes would seem more likely to succeed. John Green, you up for this?

If you are the sort of person who likes thinking about potentially better ways forward, and analysis of "how the heck did we get ourselves into this mess" based on political and economic theory, this book is a must read.

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A gripping must read.

Revisado: 04-07-18

Incredible story. Great narration. Anyone who cares about freedom and justice should read (or listen to) this book, and once you have read it, pass it on to two friends.

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An engaging view into the life of a scientist

Revisado: 05-18-15

Terrific narration of a series of short stories from the life of Richard Feynman. Nice insights into the work environment during the development of the atomic bomb. RF was quite the character and a prototypical eccentric physicist. I really liked his discussion of the scientific method.

More of a collage than a coherent story.

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