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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A New Way to See The World of the 21st Century Mar 22, 2008
By Jean Hao
Ralf Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes goes beyond the concept of a flat
world, it draws the reader into a virtual "What if?" reality. What if
the Internet could be used to erase national borders and
ethno-cultural divides creating entirely new social systems... global
space tribes!
Taking a ride in Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes' Helicopter is more
than experiencing the Web 3.0 envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee as "an
overlay of scalable vector graphics (with) everything rippling and
folding and looking misty:" it's entering a 5-D world where Time and
Space serve as connective tissue further compressing an already
flattened world.
Eschewing technical jargon that could alienate the average
non-techgeek, Hirt, instead, introduces the reader to 15 individuals
who call themselves the Golden Sky. They are an IT think tank composed
of international business people, lawyers, politicians,
environmentalists, a musician, a doctor and a philosopher, all of whom
share one thing in common--a futuristic vision of the future. They come
together on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the home of one of their
members, Winston Chee, an IT entrepreneur, for a week-long break out
in which they intend to focus on an IT conundrum: how to make the
invisible, visible.
The author cleverly uses the house, itself, as a living entity that,
in many ways, embodies many of the same elements as their quest.
Called EA-RA, it is a six-story mansion built into the side of a
mountain. It's exterior is a semicircular sheet of black glass infused
with golden fiber which faces south and stretches in a semicircle 180
degrees from east to west. The effect is that it not only catches the
sunrise but the setting sun as well, all the while reflecting the
sun's rays like a golden mirror. Unseen and undetected from outside is
the vast interior which encloses a self-sustaining environment
including a farm on its ground floor, the entire panoply and
requisites of a modern spa and convention center on the the five top
floors, all of which are hidden from view to the outside observer.
The hero of the piece is a San Francisco based IT journalist called
Oskar Kiernan Feller, or more commonly called by his friends, O.K.
Fellow. He is probably a manifestation of the author, himself,
conflicted and driven. It is O.K. Fellow whom we first meet as he sits
in an airplane flying from San Francisco to an IT conference in
Berlin. It is a trip he has made many times in the past, but on this
trip he is gripped with a sense of anxiety. He has flown millions of
miles without an incident, but his mind has made a calculation that at
some point there had to be a "statistical fluctuation" which might
result in...? He tries to stop thinking about it by repeating a mantra
silently to himself.
Ultimately, somewhere over St. Louis he experiences an existential
moment when he begins to question what he is seeing. That results in a
dialectical switch where, for a moment, he is watching himself trying
to find like-minded individuals among the houses and buildings below.
We are introduced to all the main characters in the first two
chapters. Except for their different vocations, they all share the
same uneasiness as O.K. Fellow. They want to see the unseen elements
of their world. For some, it's a search to find people as
themselves,for the others, it is to be able to see the actual flow of
elements into streams and rivers which make up what they call "Global
Space Tribes."
Eventually, they develop the concept of a virtual helicopter which
they imagine could hover above the earth with an instrument panel.
This tool could discern hidden values from single elements to
concentrations of elements, "mountains," as they eventually see them.
This is a fast and enjoyable read for both the lay reader as well as
the technophile.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Forget the flat world: it's as passé as Web 2. Mar 27, 2008
By V. Pal
"8W8 Global Space Tribes" leads us trough a flattened pre-Columbian InterWorld which defines the next metamorphosis of the Internet Web 3, and perhaps beyond. Rather than following a convoluted trail through a multidimensional world, the writer brings us to one spot, a vortex where all aspects of our physical world come together; where each individual identifies her or himself as a member of a tribe. Members of these tribes can be living in the Amazon, the Urals or Nebraska, however, more than a common mindset knits these tribes together: they share a common weltanschauung.
Using the clever device of a helicopter (8W8 Heli), resources, markets and capital flow can be mapped like rain water forming rivulets; then streams, rivers and, ultimately oceans. For me as a businessperson and a fan of new technologies, this book has been awesome since it reveals what, hithertofore, had been invisible... the "Golden" flow.
Volumizing Green Awareness - Hook me up, baby! Jun 19, 2008
By the i-tribe generation
"the i-tribe generation"
I have lived in difference places as a student and working adult across three continents and I was lucky enough that I could also live in NYC for a few years. The longer I live in busy cities and traveled the largest mega-centers on this planet the more I got into the sustainable, holistic view of life and needless to say the ultimate appreciation of environmental awareness.
I am not an Internet geek or professional, but understand the impact of the Net, at least I had thought so far. 8W8 - Global Space Tribes has made me feel part of something bigger, something global, and something total- and given me a certain sense of connection. In the past I surfed more like I read. Now I surf like I create and innovate. Hirt's story is developing comprehensively and comes from so many angles that it is hard to believe it does not get lost on its journey. The answer to this phenomena is 8W8, the world modeling engine envisioned and programmed by the fabulous members of the Internet think tank The Golden Sky. Understanding marketing a little from my business administration course - so far so good what the segmentation and fragmentation of the digital age is concerned, but embedding this in subjectively defined formulas allowing to quantify whatever I want to visualize has blown my mind away. I surf and I do. I model and I see. I see and I act. I act and I create. Thing is after having read and in fact enjoyed 8W8 - Global Space Tribes I do many things in a more thought through way and more powerfu. Everyone participating in the world of the Global Space tribes is part of this great evolution of moving the action up to where we connect and build. I have hooked up, baby! I want to create green awareness. Yes, we can.
Fantastic. Highly recommended.
from the i-tribe generation.
From Chicken Soup To Total World View Jun 17, 2008
By Lars
"Mayr-Nielsen"
It needed me a little while to figure out where this book actually fits in right from the beginning, but some how I was curious to get a copy as the promise was tempting. I liked it a lot, especially that in theory a very abstract topic has been embedded in a story that actually could be true. I have been to quite some think tanks myself and obviously traveled. You always come across interesting characters and Hirt's Golden Sky reflects those very nicely. The background of the individuals hardly leaves any diversity missing. Whether they are from business, finance, medicine or a musician, from the US, Germany or Brazil, male or female, gay, parents, singles, entrepreneurs or non-profit, Hirt packed it all in. He had to I reckon ... Thus the Golden Sky could develop this world modeling engine 8W8 that I wonder nobody before has considered doing or at least not to my knowledge. The location the event is happening, EA-RA, seems to be the best I could imagine. What a place and I would have loved to be a guest there, too, not only to enjoy Madam Chee's cooking and creatively designed menus. Frankly, it needed me some thinking to arrive from chicken soup to the volumized world of 8W8 - Global Space Tribes, but now I have arrived at the books destiny of a totally fragmented world, broken down to the personal DNA's and elements of the world, all connected, then visualized for each unique participant and beholder. This is much better than any conventional business, Internet or globalization book. It is a comprehensive read and good fun. What else do you want?
 Pretty Amazing Apr 21, 2008
By Jason Rothschild
"Jase"
Awesome. Love it! Well, this was quite an interesting read. I am not sure if I had ever read a book before that takes so many aspects of current hot topics into account by at the same time bringing it all together. I have to admit I had to think quite a bit when reading it, but the more I got into the concept of the world modeling engine 8W8 and how the Golden Sky internet think-tank developed it, the more I got excited about seeing the invisible state of the world and subsequent scenarios. Living in New York City myself I appreciate the diversity of the characters involved. Actually, I will read this book on the plane again. Wanna see what OK Fellow can see!
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