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Life After Television: The Coming Transformation of Media and American Life
“In Life After Television , George Gilder imagines a world in which the boob tube has given way to the living room telecomputer. . . . Mr. Gilder’s case is galvanic, at times even intoxicating.” ―Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal In his visionary new book George Gilder brilliantly and persuasively outlines the sweeping new developments in computer and fiber optic technology that spell certain death to traditional television and telephony. In their places, he argues, will emerge a new paradigm in which people-to-people communications give way to links among computers to be found in every home and office. The rise of the telecomputer (or “teleputer”) will utterly transform the way we do business, educate our children, and spend our leisure time, and will imperil such large, centralized, top-down organizations as cable networks, phone companies, government bureaucracies, and multinational corporations.
220 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 9, 2021
Thesis: when you introduce a superior technology, it engulfs the technologies around it. When you introduce that technology into the market, it engulfs other markets.
Television’s triumphant rise also spelled its doom. Doom might be too strong a word, though. The vacuum tubes within the television were extremely limited and would not be able to compete with microchips, fiber optics, etc.
Television had to depend on the limitations of the air, frequencies, and signals. In other words, digital signals have an advantage over analog systems.
“The fate of technologies is not defined by their abilities, but by their competitors.”
Gilder suggests that the new telecomputer age might reverse the mass-idiocy of the television age. It might point back to individualism. Television is at its heart a totalitarian system. The signals originate from a single point.
My only criticism is that he didn’t anticipate what Google would do. He is absolutely correct that superior technologies always engulf surrounding technologies (and markets). Google simply did that. The problem is that Google is also political and is in a position to limit liberties.
Television’s triumphant rise also spelled its doom. Doom might be too strong a word, though. The vacuum tubes within the television were extremely limited and would not be able to compete with microchips, fiber optics, etc.
Television had to depend on the limitations of the air, frequencies, and signals. In other words, digital signals have an advantage over analog systems.
“The fate of technologies is not defined by their abilities, but by their competitors.”
Gilder suggests that the new telecomputer age might reverse the mass-idiocy of the television age. It might point back to individualism. Television is at its heart a totalitarian system. The signals originate from a single point.
My only criticism is that he didn’t anticipate what Google would do. He is absolutely correct that superior technologies always engulf surrounding technologies (and markets). Google simply did that. The problem is that Google is also political and is in a position to limit liberties.
September 15, 2020
Steve Jobs predicted a new medium after TV, Google street view and voice recognition in 1983. Check it out at https://youtu.be/KhDxxmk2UPY
December 19, 2014
Gilder is an important high tech hypester/pundit who I have seen profiled in The New Yorker and have listened to on the radio. Apparently he was raised by the Rockefeller family - his father was a Rockefeller's roommate in either college or WW2, and when he was killed this Rockefeller fulfilled a pledge to raise and educate the boy. Gilder has worked as a right wing magazine editor and has written a few books: a couple of anti-feminist tracts, a book touting capitalism as being the most godly form of economic activity (one of Ronald Reagan's favorites), and a couple of books on high tech issues. He is an Ivy League, free market Republican and a cultural elitist.
This short book was already way out of date by the time I started reading it. Published by Whittle Communications and full of ads for Federal Express, it must have carried a very low price tag at one time. Gilder predicts that the TV viewer will soon have much more power over what to watch and when, what camera angles to use, etc. A lot of this has already arrived, especially with the advent of internet video streaming. But the large corporations that dominate TV and turn out the lowest common denominator entertainment that Gilder dislikes are showing no sign of making major changes to content. He also discusses a company called QuoTrek which used radio waves to send out stock quotes and other info - a technology that has since been surpassed by other devices like smartphones and tablets.
This short book was already way out of date by the time I started reading it. Published by Whittle Communications and full of ads for Federal Express, it must have carried a very low price tag at one time. Gilder predicts that the TV viewer will soon have much more power over what to watch and when, what camera angles to use, etc. A lot of this has already arrived, especially with the advent of internet video streaming. But the large corporations that dominate TV and turn out the lowest common denominator entertainment that Gilder dislikes are showing no sign of making major changes to content. He also discusses a company called QuoTrek which used radio waves to send out stock quotes and other info - a technology that has since been surpassed by other devices like smartphones and tablets.
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March 21, 2011I liked the book at first, and then it was a few weeks overdue at the library, so I just returned it without finishing it- which I rarely do, but did in this case.
September 10, 2019
A guy who truly understands both technology and markets. This book is waaay underrated.
April 21, 2020
This book has an interesting mix of accurate predictions, and not particular forward-looking thoughts on American culture.
December 23, 2020
VERY outdated, but interesting in part for showing how visionary the author was, and for his fairly clear reasoning on why he figured things would progress the way he thought.
September 21, 2021
This was an interesting read about the future of television and computers written in the early 90s. He was quite accurate about many things, and the things he was wrong about are instructive as well.
November 21, 2021
Fascinating for what it is, a foreseeing of early 21st-century technology.
February 13, 2019
A lot of the information is dated at this point, but it’s quite remarkable to see how accurate many of his predictions were.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews