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Capitol Ideas
George Gilder on the Materialist Superstition
72 and still overflowing with ideas.
(Page 2 of 2)
Got all that? Gilder was called away to give his speech, so you’ll just have to read the book.
I looked back at some of Gilder’s earlier works, including Microcosm (1989) and Life After Television (1990). He began to lose me with his acronyms and talk of bandwidth, but it all fell into place with the Internet, which didn’t become a household word before 1996. See Gilder’s Telecosm (2000). If you want to know the technical detail behind the Internet and the digital world, you can unearth it all from Gilder’s earlier books. It’s safe to say that binary digits will have as profound an effect on our times as the printing press did earlier.
My own belief is that George Gilder is the most original thinker of our time and perhaps our leading conservative writer. One of his great strengths has always been his optimism. There are some downbeat notes in his new edition, so I asked him if he was still an optimist.
“I get up in the morning,” he replied, “I write books, I make investments.” But he allowed that he is concerned about what might happen if Obama is reelected. For one thing, there could be “war in the Middle East.”
About the Author
Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, and most recently Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary? (2009).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (9) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.8.12 @ 7:20AM
Great article. Would love to meet him.
His concepts are right on target. The average American understands Number 3 on the breakfast menu at McDonalds.
The problem is how to bring the two together.
Who Knows?| 11.8.12 @ 9:13AM
George Gilder. I wonder if his name comes from gelt, German for gold.
Before the dotcom bubble burst, gorgeous George had a stock picking service that was off the charts profitable. He “nailed” so many of the great up and coming NASDAQ profitless companies.
Ah, but hubris is always followed by nemesis.
I’ll always associate Gilder and his recommendation of Globalstar with my own belief in him---after all, he’s so smart!---that led to my betting on that stock---and losing my shirt.
Yes----Gilder = loser, to me.
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:40AM
Thanks for that bit of info, Who Knows?
It figures.
From what I read, Gilder sounds like Jim Cramer.
And would YOU trust Jim Cramer to invest for you?
LOL
Petronius| 11.8.12 @ 9:31AM
There are the things that register with the unwashed: "have, get, and benefit." But the things that really matter are Value and Earnings. The latter and the economically illiterate shall never meet.
C. Vernon Crisler | 11.8.12 @ 10:45AM
“Information theory defines information as surprise,” Gilder said. But deterministic theories can never predict it. If they could, socialism would work."
Actually, this is not entirely accurate. This reflects Hayek's view that socialism is impractical. However, Mises showed that not only is socialism impractical, it is also impossible (because of the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism).
I do like Gilder's emphasis on mind because that is of the essence of capitalism. This means capitalism is 180 degrees different from materialism, though it is often accused of the latter.
JD| 11.8.12 @ 2:58PM
I have yet to meet a Leftist who understands that which he hates and condemns. I have come to doubt that I ever will.
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:37AM
I'll bet you've never met a "leftist" you even tried to listen to, JD.
YOUR fault, YOUR hubris, JD, not theirs.
Al Adab| 11.8.12 @ 6:09PM
If any of you intend to read Wealth and Poverty, read also The Noblest Triumph and The Mystery of Capital. Therein lies the truth.
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:33AM
What utter drivel.
"The great temptation and delusion of socialist regimes is to attempt to guarantee the value of things rather than the ownership of them. Driving the obsession is the idea that the difference between people is what they own rather than what they know."
That's the OPPOSITE of what "socialist" thinkers think and say. It's way uber-capitalists think and say. Unbelievably stupid.
I could go on, but why? "Supply-side economics" has, for anyone with half a brain, been debunked for at least 30 years. I'm sure it'll come back. All hare-brained ideas seem to. But it's dead for now.
Yeah, Bethell, keep on questioning Einstein.
Your speed is to challenge him on which toothpaste he recommended.
What a middle-school-level article.
Hear that sucking sound, TAS?
It's you-all swirling around the drain.