Wired for Thought
How the Brain Is Shaping the Future of the Internet
By: Jeffrey M. Stibel
Published: September 2009
Format: Hardcover, 240pp
ISBN-13: 9781422146644
ISBN: 1422146642
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
"I believe that the internet is a brain" writes entrepreneur and brain scientist Jeffrey M. Stibel in his perceptive and visionary book Wired for Thought: How the Brain Is Shaping the Future of the Internet. The author describes how the internet is much more than a collection of interconnected computers, and is instead a replication of a human brain created on a global scale.
Jeffrey Sibel recognizes that a single computer is not a brain in and of itself. instead, however, when computing technology is connected to billions of other computers through the same technology that created the telegraph, the many combined computers resemble a brain outside of a body. The author shows how the same evolution of technology that created the internet, is also evolving it into a global collective consciousness. Jeffrey Sibel points out that the evolution of technological change is also taking place in a predictable manner. As a result, the power of the brain like internet can be leveraged effectively to create a multitude of new business opportunities. Many of the most notable internet companies of today, including Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Facebook are recognizing the internet as a brain concept, and are adding brain specialists to their staff to capitalize on the power of this emerging phenomenon.
Jeffrey M. Stibel (photo left) is also an internet entrepreneur. He understands that the growth in importance of the internet will create powerful and profitable internet based companies in the present and into the future. The author describes the internet as being in constant evolution, and therefore creating unlimited new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Just as the human brain creates and destroys memories, the internet is an ongoing engine of creating and destroying businesses. That sense of creative destruction works in support of entrepreneurs who develop new concepts for harnessing the power of the brain like internet. Jeffrey Stibel shows the reader how to recognize the unique opportunities that exist today, and are still emerging as the internet evolves, that will form the basis of profitable companies.
For me, the power of the book is how Jeffrey Stibel develops the innovative concept that the internet acts like a global brain. With that brilliant insight in hand, the author is able to form a deeper understanding of how the internet came into being, how it works, and how it will develop in the future. By adding the principle of evolution to the idea, the author is able to foresee future growth, change, and even destruction of the internet as we know it today. With all of these insights in hand, Jeffrey Stibel guides the reader through the forces that give the internet the potential for global consciousness, and how to put that power to work in many diverse entrepreneurial ventures. The book is partly theoretical, but also adds the dimension of practicality for applying the theory to business start ups.
I highly recommend the fascinating and groundbreaking book Wired for Thought: How the Brain Is Shaping the Future of the Internet by Jeffrey M. Stibel, to anyone seeking to understand the profound idea that the internet works very much like a brain, and how that brain like internet evolves and changes over time. The author provides the insights necessary for understanding the inner nature of the internet, and shares the tools for finding business opportunities in the evolving world wide web.
Read the useful and enjoyable book Wired for Thought: How the Brain Is Shaping the Future of the Internet by Jeffrey M. Stibel, and learn how to put the power of the brain like internet to work for you and your company. You may even discover a crucial internet breakthrough, and create a company that becomes an industry leader.
