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Liked It “Я-то как раз знал автора Джорджа Гилдера только как обозревателя технологий. Когда я работал в EZchip, он сильно загорелся нашим Network Processor (NP). |
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“Я-то как раз знал автора Джорджа Гилдера только как обозревателя технологий. Когда я работал в EZchip, он сильно загорелся нашим Network Processor (NP).
Guy B wrote this review Wednesday, October 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Возможно что именно такой "утилитарный" подход нееврея Гилдера к Израилю -- польза от инноваторства евреев и Израиля намного больше чем урон от недовольства 23 арабских стран -- более интуитивен и понятен Западу чем исторические, моральные и эмоциональные аргументы. Тогда 4-х клеточная табличка теории игр сдвигается в интересном направлении, ослабляя нажим на Израиль.
Кстати он в этом своём новом бестселлере про моё бывшее (до 2004г.) место работы EZchip вообще целую главу написал! Я главное читаю себе, ничего не подозревая, и вдруг - бац! автор забился в экстазе - сетевой процессор, пост-фон-Наймановская архитектура, а основатель Эли Фрухтер - вообще светоч народов.
А мы-то для NP и симулятор писали, и всякие средства, и компилятор. Замучались - 4 типа хитрейших подпроцессоров, каждого типа по 8-32 штуки. Зато силикон вышел без багов, и отладка сразу заработала.
Эх, меня лично в книжке пока не упомянули :) Гилдер там воспевает пользу еврейского гения, причём он сам не еврей.
(А в моей группе кстати была и чемпионка мира по шашкам, и международный шахматный гроссмейстер, и парочка просто скромных гениев...)”
“Take Gilder's Israel Test, a moral challenge: What is your attitude toward people who excel you in the creation of wealth? Do you aspire to their excellence, or do you seethe at it? Do you admire and celebrate exceptional achievement, or do you impugn it and seek to tear it down?
Ron B wrote this review Wednesday, August 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Even though Israel's population is only 7.23 million, it ranks behind only the United States in technological contributions. In per-capita innovation, Israel dwarfs all nations. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Israel began to cut its confiscatory tax rates, oppressive regulations and other socialist utopian dreams and became a supply-side economist's laboratory.
This is Gilder's finest work since Wealth & Poverty. It's fierce, and fearless. He reiterates the Golden Rule of capitalism as only he can: "The good fortune of others is also one's own." And Gilder proves, over and over, this truism (as Hayek argued too): "What Makes capitalism succeed is not chiefly its structure of incentives but its use of knowledge and experience."
Echoing Michael Novak, Gilder writes: "History favors the view that poverty springs chiefly from envy and hatred of excellence. It stems from the belief that wealth inheres in things and material resources that can be seized and redistributed, rather than in human minds and creations that thrive only in peace and freedom."
If you are familiar with Charles Murray's scholarly work, Human Accomplishment (reviewed herein), the arguments in this book won't shock you. Murray documented 4,002 individuals who are largely responsible for all innovation from 800 B.C. to 1950. We stand on the shoulder of very few giants. It has always been. One's attitude toward the accomplishments of others--envy or awe--can determine the fate of nations.
There's no way to do justice to Gilder's book. You simply must read it. In the middle of the book, he takes you on a tour of some of Israel's entrepreneurs who are destined to change our future. The conclusions are as fierce, cogent and logical as his opening chapters.
I'm also honored to have my own book, Mind Over Matter: Why Intellectual Capital is the Chief Source of Wealth, included in Gilder's Bibliography. He, more than any other author, shaped my views on this very issue with his 1981 classic Wealth & Poverty.
Read anything by Gilder--twice, at least.”
“Even the thought of summarizing the premise of George Gilder’s new book, The Israel Test, causes my mind to reel.
Ed K wrote this review Monday, August 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
To attempt: The cause of the conflict between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries is not religion (although there are certainly elements) nor racism (although there are certainly elements), but rather it is caused by envy. Israel, in the 60 plus years of its existence, has been extraordinarily successful and the perception is that it has done so by taking from the Palestinians. In short, the conflict is about the zero-sum thinking of demand economics versus positive-sum thinking of supply-side economics. It is about the jealousy felt against people who have attained success and the belief that the only way they could have attained that success is by taking from others.
“The real issue is between the rule of law and the rule of leveler egalitarianism, between creative excellence and covetous ‘fairness',’ between admiration of achievement versus envy and resentment of it,” Gilder says.
In Part One, Zerizus, Gilder, in his best and most brilliant prose since Wealth & Poverty, develops this premise and destroys any and all arguments against it. He posits his Golden Rule of Capitalism – The good fortune of others is also one’s own. One of the troubles with government, indeed with even democracy, is that government (transfers of wealth) and democracy (elections) are zero-sum, while the economic system, capitalism is positive-sum. This influences the thinking of all leaders in democracies that they need to create an equity of outcomes, not just an equality of opportunity. He terms these people, “handi-capitalists!”
In Part Two, Israel Inside, Gilder introduces us to Jewish and Israel scientists and entrepreneurs who have had a profound influence on the world as we know it and a few, who he believes, are about to have even great influence. Intel’s latest microprocessors, they are coming from Israel; Petaflop networking, from Israel; Wireless high-definition interface standards, from Israel; Algorithms which map the human genome, Israel.
In Part Three, The Paradox of Peace, Gilder puts forth his by far most controversial and thought provoking postulate – the Peace Now movement inside and outside Israel, condemn themselves to Peace Never. Gilder quotes Nobel Laureate Robert Aumann, “If you want peace now, you may well never get peace. But if you have time – if you can wait – that changes the whole picture; then you might get peace now.” Gilder states, “Peace requires the imposition of penalties on aggression.”
Simply said, The Israel Test is not a easy read, but it is absolutely a must-read.”
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