If a country’s leaders singularly focus on the goals set by the founding fathers ignoring the nature of the age, resort to actions forgetting the mastery and guidance needed by visionaries, there can be dire consequences in the evolving new world order. The tension arises when leaders of nations resort to achieving short-term which could be their own term in office with goals based on popular beliefs and pleasing the electorate. Leaders and citizens have equal responsibilities to mend their ways recognizing the complexities of the times. This time is clearly for setting the political direction with policies for the digital age for every country. There is no space for politically outdated thinking. Old methods of fixing structural, geographical boundaries do not solve the behavioral impulses of the networked age. Leaders may be accustomed to dealing with complicated issues, but the complex is different from complicated. Why - several reasons. First, let's get to the book review.
Joshua Cooper Ramo’s “The Seventh Sense” theme is to highlight the importance of planning and preparing with long-term strategies using indisputable methods suitable for the connected age – before materializing them to action. Ramo warns the most powerful country of the industrial era - the USA to prepare once again like a master not ignoring the winds of change of the networked age. If connection brought only benefits, a gatekeeper (country) by nature with a system of values such as choice of democracy, freedom of thought and expression, and privacy has nothing much to worry about. But, the times are proving this belief is shaken already.
Ramo cites the history of an ancient country like China, how protection of their values is inbuilt in their political system, how their leaders take the guidance of their spiritual masters for their political moves. The country has a history of a mix of power and art, the author writes about its leaders. This approach suits the nature of the country’s problems and the culture it has imbibed over thousands of years. This vast country too had its handful of dilemmas when transitioning from the Mao regime to open its borders to trade and development, to stand firmly in a new age. Ramo resorts to both European and Chinese histories to bring to the table the main point that the dynamism of changing scene of international politics is based on the patterns of histories of nations and conditions that lead to war or peace. As a person of Indian origin, I can see this mix of dilemmas which prevailed, contributing to the prosperous, ancient India from my knowledge of ancient Indian history quite clearly. I will not divulge on how I lament when I learn how India too succumbed to lures of unsuitable choices time and again.
In the connected age, a great nation which laid the foundations for institutions such as the United Nations and a mission for globalization faces the consequences of allowing seamless penetration into a country’s markets, its technologies, and it's educational systems to serve the causes it stood for. Openness requires assessment of risks, threats along with understanding opportunities. If risks are not mitigated in a timely manner, the systems can be easily manipulated by unforeseen sources – giving way to extreme behaviors including terrorism. The mission of global order might be shaken from its roots if there is no established vision to realize it. Securing and strengthening oneself will result in cooperation and coevolution at a different level beyond the threats and risks of interdependencies. This is the timeless truth for a nation, a business, and an individual - face the immense gaps tracing the paradoxes which arise with the complexities and trends.
For the purpose of comparison, I see this book similar to Scott Snyder’s ”New world of wireless”. Snyder's book is a decade old and was written for the purpose of understanding the swarm effect, implications of mobility for businesses and peoples. The book had a lasting impression as a thoughtful work on possible future scenarios for different regions and industries on the effect of mobility. As a norm, expert analysts from the technology world try to bridge the gaps of communication to convey the potential of technologies for business decisions. Business leaders are advised not to leave their strategic decisions on technologies (for that matter on those areas that have a lasting impact) solely on a singular group to avoid bias and heuristics. The power vested in the leaders of a nation is being tested as the impact and implications on future scenarios as technologies are becoming pervasive more than ever before. The biggest threat is the networks themselves which leaders have to come to terms with.
Ramo asks serious questions throughout the three parts of the book. He sets out to expand on the thought process to reach conclusions resorting to examples from the past politics and history, present developments – social, technological, and political systems in a masterful yet enmeshed way. The enmeshment of the discussions makes sense to the very nature of the complex problems with no easy solutions. Every nation must feel its own pulse and pave its own path to prosperity in this networked age, whether leading or being led, whether being gated or gating. His narrative is spread in three parts – first to establish the importance to understand the deeper ambitions, culture, and the soul of the countries, their politics, and their actions to participate in the networked world. Threats can arise from the evolution of the networks themselves in new ways. Envisioning the problems with new insights and seventh sense is necessary to lead and thrive here. The author visualizes a world tuned to AI and reflects the machine age where decisions will be mingled and relied on the intelligence of the machine. Yet, man represents the gatekeeper so far in spite of the superstitions and ignorance. To let machines gate-keep man for reasons not understood by him is a possibility to worry about. In order to get the best of rules and regimes, the key, age-old question is whether to "let kings who become philosophers rule or hope for philosophers to somehow become kings". Now, the author says that it is to decide on the ways the current gaps can be filled leading to a stable era is with the quality of citizenship, the balance of technological kingships along with wise leadership. Hope is to rely on the peoples at all levels, everywhere.
Ramo observes deeply on the nature of protests and the patterns of resistance around the world. Part II of the book starts with themes of rebellion around the world and fruitless resistance from political leaders in power. He explains the dynamism of power shifts in networks. He warns that slow reactions due to political inertia and a struggle to give up power have always been detrimental. The business of spiritual control is an example in many nations which struggle with the power of middlemen between man and his God. Speaking of middlemen, there are distributed, yet concentrations of data and network power with technologies as the facilitating middlemen in the platform companies GAFA. Science and technology advances with computing power are taking mankind to new horizons. Ignoring, ridiculing, resisting, and then accepting need not be an approach of the people in position for handling trends. The author emphasizes how strange things happen because of connections – “connection means systems take on new forms”. The conventional tools and available models don’t come of use in the face of crisis. Don't miss reading the chapter "MapReduce" for glimpses into those tinkerers, thinkers, and scientists who made the networks possible as we see them today.
Contrary to the narrative that the established may be losing their grip on the systems of the world, tremendous opportunities exist for the masters to orchestrate the loosened threads to weave a new story of mastery. Time is ripe to find mindful ways to lead the seemingly waiting, yet eager to grab the low hanging fruit with hunger and enthusiasm all around the geography of the globe. At times, the author seems to get circumlocutory on the power of networks. Ramo understands his wide range of audience than I do - he satisfies the need for breadth at a level that only a master of history, philosophy, politics, and technology can cover - everything merging with the themes of network science, computing, as well as hacking and fuzzing. But the purpose of the book is not the science itself – it is how leaders can sway the people dooming their nations’ future and foundations for security and prosperity by lack of clarity on the power and potential of the network themes and science. Popular and massive educational efforts to make every citizen of the world be clear of the choices and vulnerabilities with networks is crucial. None of the topics of computing is just for the enthusiasts and hobbyists of the '70s or the '80s. There is a clear tendency towards obsession which everyone has to guard themselves more than ever before.
It is important to preserve the soul of every country with methods suitable for the age. What seemed an asset is becoming a liability - the openness, the generosity, and the innocuous ways of perception are put to test every day.
It is important to preserve the soul of every country with methods suitable for the age. What seemed an asset is becoming a liability - the openness, the generosity, and the innocuous ways of perception are put to test every day.
Needless to say, the needs of the hour are so many, to summarize it is the mastery of design that can save, not a mere engineering effort in every sphere of life. No country’s leaders or its citizens can spare time for luring themselves with the masks of manipulations without paying attention to where they are driving themselves. To err is human - it is this human tendency we have to guard against the power of new machines and old politics in the network world.
