Rheingold describes how text messaging has already toppled governments, citing the fall of Philippine President Estrada when citizens coordinated mass demonstrations through SMS within minutes. He draws parallels to collective action throughout human evolution, from tribal hunting bands to agricultural societies, arguing that each communication technology has enabled cooperation at greater scales. The discussion covers peer-to-peer file sharing threatening the recording industry's business model, eBay's reputation system enabling trust between strangers, and the potential for wearable computers and location-aware devices to reshape daily life.
Art presses Rheingold on privacy concerns surrounding the newly created Information Awareness Office under Admiral Poindexter, and both express alarm at mass surveillance of email, web browsing, credit card purchases, and cell phone location data. Rheingold warns that trading freedom for security may undermine the very freedoms being protected. The first hour features Mark Burnett discussing Survivor, Eco Challenge, and his pursuit of a civilian space travel television project.
Key Moments
From hunter-gatherers to smart mobs: Rheingold reframes the internet as the latest stage in 100,000 years of solving the 'collective action dilemma,' the same evolutionary thread that lets self-interested humans cooperate in tribes, agriculture, and cities.
Botswana, Indian fishermen, and the leapfrog future: Rheingold pushes back on American techno-exceptionalism, citing Indian fishermen who get the day's port prices over SMS and one-in-eight Botswanans on a mobile phone, with wireless leapfrogging copper entirely.
Generation Text overthrows a president: Rheingold tells how Filipinos, mobilized by SMS messages telling them to wear black and meet in Manila, drove millions into the streets and pushed the Estrada government out, then ties the same pattern to G8 protests.
The end of the record industry as we know it: Pressed on Napster and the wave of file sharing, Rheingold tells Bell it isn't the end of music but it is the end of the recording industry's business model, and lays out a micropayment alternative.
Total Information Awareness as the ultimate surveillance grid: Rheingold describes Admiral Poindexter's Information Awareness Office as 'the most massive surveillance mechanism ever invented' and Bell agrees that post-9/11 Americans are willingly trading freedom for security.