Life after television (The Larger agenda series) [Hardcover]

George F Gilder (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Larger agenda series | Publication Date: 1990

Television has long been identified as a dead hand on culture; but George Gilder suggests here that this centralized, authoritarian institution is also a dying technology and that the telecomputer - a powerful interactive system that will affect all aspects of life, from education to business to leisure time - will replace it. America is presently at the forefront of telecomputer development, but government restrictions - such as those that limit the wide use of fibre-optic technology - may hinder the American companies in the vanguard. Gilder's optimistic message is that the United States has only to unleash its industrial resources to command the "telefuture", in which new technology will overthrow the stultifying influence of mass media and renew the power of individuals.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If Gilder ( Wealth and Poverty ) is correct, television will become irrelevant in the bright new interactive age of the telecomputer. A telecomputer is a personal computer adapted for video processing, and linked by fiber-optic threads to other telecomputers around the world. In an exciting, visionary glimpse of the future, Gilder conjures a global village where viewers can tap into any station or into newspapers, where people can transmit their own video images and access an endless feast of specialized programs. Scrutinizing the fledgling U.S. telecomputer companies and the massive resistance they face from entrenched interests, he predicts that the Japanese, already in the lead, will steal the show unless the American telecommunications industry mounts a coordinated effort. The age of the telecomputer may be decades away, but even couch potatoes will be stimulated by this thought-provoking essay.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Gilder's thesis, written in layman's terms, is that the United States wil soon lose its rightful preeminence in the telecommunications field to foreign competitors, particularly the Japanese. Unless, that is, American business executives, legislators, judges, and consumers look beyond separate, limited, and hierarchical forms of communication such as television, telephones, and online databases to a multifunctional, interactive, and democratic "telecomputer." Instead of envisioning a brave new telecomputerized world, the powers that be in American business, government, and law are wasting time protecting obsolete existing systems, he posits. Gilder also warns that expensive, user-unfriendly online databases such as Dialog and NEXIS are, at best, transitional technologies. Though much of Gilder's argument is based on his own opinions and peculiar personal preferences (Gilder doesn't seem to like to leave the house) rather than real evidence, his thoughts make interesting reading. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.
- Mary C. Kalfatovic, Telesec Lib. Svcs . , Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 86 pages
• Publisher: Whittle Direct Books; First Edition (thus) edition (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962474525
• ISBN-13: 978-0962474521
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #734,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gilder is the best in predicting technology / economy., March 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Life After Television (Hardcover)

As former Director of Broadcast Engineering for Alabama Public Television, (America's oldest PBS Network) I can say that my 38 years of Telecom, Technology, and Broadcast experience strongly suggests that everthing I've ever read by George Gilder is excellent. George's books and Forbes /ASAP articles are an excellent reference for anyone concerned in how technology has and will continue to affect the economy of the U.S. and the World. James Foley -- Alpha Communications & OMNI Telecom

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a TV treatise! Better prognosticator than Popcorn!, April 3, 1998

By 

Terry Hansen ([e-mail]) (Seattle, Washington/Puget Sound Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life after television (The Larger agenda series) (Hardcover)

George Gilder has been hailed as one of the foremost science and technology writers for Forbes Magazine. His book, Wealth and Poverty, was one of the "Bibles" of '80s supply-side economics. Although I may not totally agree with his economic views, his extensive research of telecommunications and how this vast and intertwined conglom of industries affects humanity is unquestionably thorough, thought provoking, intellegent, and timely. Some craggy rocks which potentially ground Gilder's predictions of a tidal wave on the technoscape are FCC auctions; mis-directed consumer advertising; lack of consumer education on what cell phone towers "really" are (you know, fear of radiation, cancer scare, etc.), and the inability of competing telecoms, cable companies, computer megopolies, etal to install fiber-optic cable and satellites at a break-neck enough pace. All I know is, wherever TCI has tried Internet services, the "Alpha Test" consumers not only wouldn't give it up after the test was over, some people would not move to an area where they couldn't purcase the service! So readers: Ride premiere prognosticator Gilder's technowave, and be one of the first to hang ten in a prospective post-Mellenium promised land! And be sure to pick up his other books, such as Microcosm. I believe he is updating this for 1998, and he's "write-on" in his first edition. Surf's up!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing, February 18, 2000

By 

"techguru" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life After Television (Hardcover)

Fiber and wireless, he is amazingly correct in predicting the technology trends, can't wait to see what he is going to talk about in his next book.