a blog about information
Born in 1957, raised as part of a liberal and progressive family in Calcutta, schooled by the Jesuits from 1965-66 to 1978-79: there is much in my background to explain why I espouse many of the beliefs of the Sixties. It begins with my family and my faith; it manifests itself in how I’m passionate … Continue reading “Why customers are fundamentally unpredictable”
There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to write this post. The internet was not, and is not, solely a new distribution mechanism for Hollywood and for pockets of the music industry; but the power of these incumbents is immense in the Western world, and it is therefore possible, perhaps even likely, that bad … Continue reading “Musing about SOPA”
[This post continues from where I left off in the early hours of this morning, here]. I’ve been following the work of W Brian Arthur for over three decades now, starting with his paper on “Samuelson, Population and Intergenerational Transfers” in 1978 or thereabouts, while I was reading Economics at university. During the 1980s, he … Continue reading “More on Facebook’s Timeline”
As most of you know, I was born and raised in Calcutta; I spent my first 23 years there, fifteen of them being educated by the Jesuits. Calcutta, where, from 1977 to 2010, there was a “democratically elected communist government”. And the Jesuits, with their focus on promoting social justice. Between the two, they made … Continue reading “Thinking lazily about wealth, its creation and distribution”
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: Toyotomi Hideyoshi returning to the scene of his army’s victory It’s that time of year when I get asked to make predictions for the year ahead, particularly in the context of enterprise software. It’s that time of year when I tend not to do anything as a result. But this year’s different. This … Continue reading “2012: The year when the customer holds the conch”