In New York and Baltimore, police cameras scan public areas twenty-four hours a day. Huge commercial databases track you finances and sell that information to anyone willing to pay. Host sites on the World Wide Web record every page you view, and "smart" toll roads know where you drive. Every day, new technology nibbles at our privacy.Does that make you nervous? David Brin is worried, but not just about privacy. He fears that society will overreact to these technologies by restricting the flow of information, frantically enforcing a reign of secrecy. Such measures, he warns, won''t really preserve our privacy. Governments, the wealthy, criminals, and the techno-elite will still find ways to watch us. But we''ll have fewer ways to watch them. We''ll lose the key to a free society: accountability."The Transparent Society" is a call for "reciprocal transparency." If police cameras watch us, shouldn''t we be able to watch police stations? If credit bureaus sell our data, shouldn''t we know who buys it? Rather than cling to an illusion of anonymity-a historical anomaly, given our origins in close-knit villages-we should focus on guarding the most important forms of privacy and preserving mutual accountability. The biggest threat to our freedom, Brin warns, is that surveillance technology will be used by too few people, now by too many.A society of glass houses may seem too fragile. Fearing technology-aided crime, governments seek to restrict online anonymity; fearing technology-aided tyranny, citizens call for encrypting all data. Brins shows how, contrary to both approaches, windows offer us much better protection than walls; after all, the strongest deterrent against snooping has always beenthe fear of being spotted. Furthermore, Brin argues, Western culture now encourages eccentricity-we''re programmed to rebel That gives our society a natural protection against error and wrong-doing, like a body''s immune system. But "social T-cells" need openness to spot trouble and get the word out. "The Transparent Society" is full of such provocative and far-reaching analysis.The inescapable rush of technology is forcing us to make new choices about how we want to live. This daring book reminds us that an open society is more robust and flexible than one where secrecy reigns. In an era of gn
Ninguna especie en todo el universo ha alcanzado las estrellas sin la ayuda de un guía, excepto quizá la raza humana. ¿Existió hace muchos eones una extraña raza que dio inicio al desarrollo de la humanidad? Y si fue asi, ¿por que nos abandono? Cercando el Sol, en las cavernas de Mercurio, la expedicion Navegante Solar se prepara para realizar el viaje mas trascendental de la historia de la humanidad. Un viaje al sofocante infierno de la estrella de fuego. Alli se han detectado formas de vida desconocidas que podrian ser la raza primigenia, los autenticos antepasados del hombre.Para encontrar respuestas a todos esos interrogantes, sera necesario sumergirse en el ardiente corazon del Sol.David Brin es cientifico, conferenciante, consultor tecnico y novelista de renombre. Sus obras han estado en las listas de las mas vendidas del New York Times, y por ellas ha ganado varios premios Hugo y Nebula, entre otros.
La Streaker, una nave terrestre de exploración, ha de buscar refugio en el planeta acuático Kithrup a causa de una avería. La tripulación a bordo de la nave guarda uno de los descubrimientos más importantes de la historia galáctica. Sobre ellos, en el espacio, las armadas alienígenas se enzarzan en una titánica batalla para reivindicar sus derechos sobre la nave y hacerse con el valioso botín que esta encierra. Mientras, un pequeño grupo de humanos y delfines de la tripulación se afanan por plantarle cara a la rebelión armada y a un planeta hostil para salvaguardar su secreto: el destino de los progenitores, la legendaria primera raza que sembró la sabiduría entre las estrellas.
