Reviewing Martin Gurri’s book, The Revolt of the Public

 I am going to liberally quote from Gurri’s book and interviews, trying to let him explain himself in his own words.

Fifth Wave of human communication

The invention of writing, for example, was one such wave. It led to a form of government dependent on a mandarin or priestly caste. 

The development of the alphabet was another: the republics of the classical world would have been unable to function without literate citizens.

A third wave, the arrival of the printing press and moveable type, was probably the most disruptive of all. 

The Reformation, modern science, and the American and French Revolutions would scarcely have been possible without printed books and pamphlets.

I was born in the waning years of the next wave, that of mass media—the industrial, I-talk-you-listen mode of information…”

For Gurri, the establishment of the internet and the web slowly and then like a tsunami overwhelmed traditional sources of information, which threatened the entrenched order—not just media, but government and large institutions. 

Matt Ridley wrote a book over a decade ago called The Rational Optimist. 

John Mauldin 27 September 2024

https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/the-revolt-of-the-public-part-2


Now we have Spotify and its competitors, and we all think it is natural to have 50,000 different choices. 

With the development of the internet, to use Gurri’s analysis, we are not truly “polarized” today. We are fragmented. 

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-revolt-of-public-we-are-not.html


Martin Gurri The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium

https://www.amazon.com/Revolt-Public-Crisis-Authority-Millennium/dp/1732265143


Matt Ridley The Rational Optimist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rational_Optimist


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