'One of the major themes in The Sovereign Individual is the notion that the revolution unleashed by digital technologies is liberating individuals at the expense of the nation-states that have governed much of humanity for thousands of years.'
Mr. Katz, you misuse the term 'nation-state' (anachronistically), that is, it HAS NOT goverened much of humaity for thousands of years. Normally, I wouldn't correct this sort of error, but it seems fundamental to the authors' argument as you depict it.
In fact, the treaty of westphalia is generally recognized, by political scientists and some economists the world around, as being the moment in time that the concept of a 'nation-state' was crystalized.
(http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,571 6,78730+3+76697,00.html)
Furthermore, Bizmark and others after him, secured this conception vis-a-vis emperial, feudal, et cetera conceptions of 'state' after that approximate date.
"Though all of human history, there have been three basic stages of economic life: hunting-and-gathering societies; agricultural societies; and industrial societies. "
Here you are surely flattering Hagel, Vico,and above all Marx; all of whom have been seriously contested on the facts by modern historians and anthropologists... even intuitively speaking, one can see the world around that there has not been 3 distinct evolutionary stages/epochs.
Slashdot Mirror
'One of the major themes in The Sovereign Individual is the notion that the revolution unleashed by digital technologies is liberating individuals at the expense of the nation-states that have governed much of humanity for thousands of years.' Mr. Katz, you misuse the term 'nation-state' (anachronistically), that is, it HAS NOT goverened much of humaity for thousands of years. Normally, I wouldn't correct this sort of error, but it seems fundamental to the authors' argument as you depict it. In fact, the treaty of westphalia is generally recognized, by political scientists and some economists the world around, as being the moment in time that the concept of a 'nation-state' was crystalized. (http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,571 6,78730+3+76697,00.html)
Furthermore, Bizmark and others after him, secured this conception vis-a-vis emperial, feudal, et cetera conceptions of 'state' after that approximate date.
"Though all of human history, there have been three basic stages of economic life: hunting-and-gathering societies; agricultural societies; and industrial societies. "
Here you are surely flattering Hagel, Vico,and above all Marx; all of whom have been seriously contested on the facts by modern historians and anthropologists... even intuitively speaking, one can see the world around that there has not been 3 distinct evolutionary stages/epochs.