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The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Is Changing our Lives

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The Death of Distance Frances Cairncross presents a compelling and thought-provoking analysis of a rapidly shrinking world as she presents a story of a revolution - a technological revolution, where three technologies namely the telephone, the TV and the networked computer are literally making everywhere here. As the senior editor of the Economist magazine, her analyses of world markets not just from an economics perspective, but from cultural, emotional and societal viewpoints is breathtaking. Distance will become irrelvant, she argues and it won't be long before people across the globe will organize their work on the basis of language and three time shifts - one for the Americas, one for Europe and one for East Asia and Australia. She discusses the implications of workers able to earn a living from anywhere and countries finding themselves competing for citizens as people relocate for reasons ranging from lower taxes to nicer weather. Cairncross discusses about 30 major changes likely to result from the technology-driven revolution including a shifting landscape in terms of freedom, privacy and intellectual property, the changing role of government and the implications for the concept of the nation state, citizenship, regulation and laws in a world without borders, in a world where distance is irrelvant.

In this updated paperback edition of the 1997 original, Frances Cairncross of The Economist expounds the theory that, with the introduction of the Internet and new communications technologies, distance as a relevant factor in how we conduct our business and personal lives is becoming irrelevant. This, she claims, will be the single most important economic force shaping all of society over the next half century.

This revised version covers more topics than the original. It explores the rise and fall of the dot-com phenomenon, the spread of mobile telephones, the wave of hi-tech mergers, the lasting power of the new economy, trends in e-commerce, organizational restructuring to adapt to the Internet, the impact of patent law as it pertains to communications, and the democratizing effects of communications technology on worldwide societies as a whole.

Francis Cairncross writes eloquently and convincingly about the cataclysmic changes sweeping through our means of communication. She discusses how the consequences of such changes will tilt the balance between large and small, rich and poor, as they influence where companies locate, what kind of work people do, how governments raise revenue, which businesses succeed etc.

Amongst the most striking trends, she sees citizens with a greater freedom to locate anywhere, thus leaving governments to reduce tax burdens in an attempt to attract higher income-earners. She sees, too, the continuing rise of English as a global language in business and commerce. She foretells, too, of new opportunities and challenges we will face in a wireless world.

I disagree with those who claim that, just because we have the ability to do something, doesn't mean we will do it and change society. If people don't want mobile phones, why do they buy them? If people don't like the Internet, why do they use it? My own experience (Brit living in France, working in various European countries, employed by an American company) tells its own story. Twenty years ago, my situation would have been considered almost unique. Today it is commonplace. AND YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET !

This book paints a bright, sunny picture of the Utopia that will be created by the spread of communications technology such as the Internet. Work will become more fun, governments will be forced to cut taxes, people will talk to each other more, and world peace and prosperity will soon follow. I don't buy it; the analysis is far too one-sided, and, while there will doubtless be benefits of increased communication, there will also be downsides (though it's probably impossible to say what they'll turn out to be) and it won't fix all the world's problems, as Cairncross seems to think.

This is an easy-to-read, interesting book for business people and others who want to know how the Interactive Age will change the world. Francis Cairncross, who writes in The Economist for people who think, has studied and thought a great deal, and it shows. Cairncross says that the improvements now being developed in telephony, television and the Internet will touch every single life within a few years. Fundamental changes in how we learn, get food, deal with friends, enemies and lovers, make money and pay for goods are definitely in the works. And that distance will no longer dictate how we communicate. This is not fantasy, this is the right stuff. Anyone who expects to be around longer than a very few years had better listen up.

Unlike the reader from Canada, I believe that Ms. Cairncross' assertion that distance is dying is quite accurate. The Internet, and particularly the Web, removes physical distance and allows people to communicate with each other in a way that is completely independent of where they live. It does not, however, remove cultural, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual distance. For this reason the advance of modern communications methods will never result in the homogeneous society many seem to fear. Our individualism will remain intact but our exposure to the world around us will continue to increase exponentially (both to our benefit and detriment). Ms. Cairncross has accurately grasped the true impact of the Internet and those who are able to leverage this impact will be the ones who guide the future of the medium.

I recently read this brilliant book before reading Cairncross' more recently published The Company of the Future. I highly recommend both and suggest that they be read in the order in which they were written.

In this volume (first published in 1997), Cairncross carefully organizes her material within ten chapters following a Preface in which she observes: "The new ideas in this book are about the many ways in which the most significant technological changes of our time will affect the next century -- and your life. You will find a preview of the most important in 'The Trendspotter's Guide to New Communications' that immediately follows this preface; the rest of the book sets out to interpret and elaborate these key points." in which she identifies and then briefly discusses "Ten Rules for Survival." I have a minor quibble with the title because I think that technological changes to which Cairncross refers have not caused the death of distance; rather, they have re-defined it.

With regard to the aforementioned important developments, Cairncross identifies and then briefly discusses 30 which range from "The Death of Distance" to "Global Peace." All are valid even as some readers may believe that others should be added to the list or replace some of those included. There are several in which I have special interest, including #27, "Communities of Culture." Cairncross suggests that "electronic communications will reinforce less widespread languages and cultures. not replace them with Anglo-Saxon and Hollywood. The declining cost of creating and distributing many entertainment products and the corresponding increase in production capacity will also reinforce local cultures and help scattered peoples and families to preserve their cultural heritage." Once again, many readers who agree on the importance of such trends may disagree with the implications which Cairncross derives from them. Fair enough.

In the final chapter, "Government and the Nation State," Cairncross duly acknowledges that being able to communicate may not be enough to keep the nations of the earth at peace with one another "but it is a start." Thanks to new technologies now available or which will soon become available, people will become less susceptible to, indeed dependent on propaganda from politicians who seek to stir up conflicts. Cairncross concludes, "Bonded together by the invisible strands of global communications, humanity may find that peace and prosperity are fostered by the death of distance." She held out that possibility in 1997. Whether or not it remains a reasonable possibility is for each reader to determine. As I compose this review, violence continues to erupt in the Middle East and elsewhere; extensive poverty worldwide persists and could become even worse. Death does indeed have many faces.

Ms. Cairncross has done an admirable job of reviewing the essential building blocks of the Communications Revolution. Her analyses of the telephone, television, and the Internet provide solid background for those new to the subject and help to foster a better understanding of the way forward. Her final chapter offers some interesting observations on the role of government in this new environment. It is an optimistic, yet realistic book, carefully noting both the advantages and disadvantages of the technology that is changing our lives. The book is well-written, and the notes at the end provide a number of Web sites and further documentation that will be useful to the curious reader.

Most of us have some inkling of how the communications revolution might affect the way we work and play in the future. Cairncross extends those thoughts and comes up with a series of conclusions that you may or may not agree entirely with, but surely are thought provoking. Good summary of the key points on the first few pages, all of which are expanded with good reasoning in later pages. If you like the style of the Economist, you'll like this book.

It would appear that this book continues the line of technological revolutionists/determinists - who provide no reasons as to why this new 'communications revolution' should be able to change our society apart from wide-eyed 'look at what this technology will allow' type suggestions. Just because we have the ability to do something, doesn't mean everyone will do it and thus change society.

A book like Winston's "Media Technology & Society" highlights, with academic integrity, how SOCIETY drives technological change, not some group of engineers sitting round 'inventing stuff'. This is surely the first revolution dictated by commerce & economics rather than actual social need. As Nasdaq stocks fluctuate wildly, the crash and burn of Iridium surely shows that market driven technology isn't as simple as these types of books make it sound.

This book provides nothing new to the topic and as one reviewer previously noted, fails to come to grips with the true power of money.

Francis Cairncross's book The Death of Distance is the best of a series of new publications (and articles) insisting that the ongoing communication revolution will shape a borderless, McLuhanesque world in which the "tyranny of geography" disappears. It is, simply, the death of distance. Attractive as this utopia is, it won't happen. The history of both communications and transportation argues against this dream. Distance did not disappear with the rapidity of the telephone, the simultaneity of television, or the universality of radio. Planes, trains and automobiles have not made Europe--or North America--into amorphous places. Even with high speed transportation, where one lives is still important. Language and distinct cultures of location persist. Distance does not die because of telecommunication. Distinct geographies persist. I'm part of another, contrarian tradition. One articulated in, for example, The Message Is the Medium (1996: Praeger books). It sees the new technologies as evolutionary, extending changes which have been ongoing in communications and transportations for at least a century. From this perspective, Caincross' vision, while well read and well argued, is utopian and if attractive, unlikely to be realized. Tom Koch, author: The Message Is the Medium. 1996.