Recently I've been seeing a lot of promotions for George Gilder's REBOOT prediction, and so I've finally decided to review what's going on here.
If you're wondering what this "$16.8 trillion 'REBOOT'" is that he's talking about or about the subscription advisory service he's pushing, then you're in the right place. In this review I'll be covering everything.
The presentation:
Who knows how many different presentation are floating around the internet, but what I came across was this, titled "Get Ready For The $16.8 Trillion 'REBOOT'"...
Some of the key points laid out in this presentation by Mr. Gilder include that:
- there will be a "significant and global 'REBOOT' of the internet"
- it will transform the entire internet architecture
- it could "reset the balance of power on Wall Street"
- it could kill markets and create new ones
- "you'll need to be prepared"
George Gilder claims that this internet reboot will change everything, and he wants to keep us all informed so that we can stay in-the-know and can profit from it.
The reason George thinks that a big reboot is in the near future is because of the way companies like Google and Facebook have so much control over our data. In a nutshell, he thinks that the new technology of blockchain is going to do away with this old system of storing data with large entities having so much control over things.
All of the information on this reboot is in a book of his (Life After Google) that he is giving out as a bonus if you subscribe to his newsletter advisory service, The George Gilder Report (we'll be talking about both shortly). It's all a sales pitch, similar to that of Paul Mampilly's "America 2.0" opportunity he's been teasing that lures in new subscribers to his advisory service.
Who Is George Gilder?
George Gilder is an investor, writer, economist, a big advocate of tech, and he was the guy who met with President Regan to hand him one of the first microchips every produced, which was a Micron technology 64k DRAM. He's also a co-founder of the politically-conservative think tank company called Discover Institute, which promotes anti-evolution beliefs in the US... something you might not expect from a tech expert.
His background includes graduating from Harvard, serving in the Marines, speech-writing for Richard Nixon and others, and eventually in the 1990's becoming deeply involved in uncovering tech trends, which he wrote about in books and his newsletter service, the Gilder Technology Report.
One of his most notable predictions to-date includes what he wrote about in his 1994 book titled Life After Television, in which he predicted the use of smartphones over a decade before the iPhone.
As an author he has written somewhere around 20 books total, and besides Life After Television so of his other popular ones include Wealth and Poverty, Knowledge and Power, The Scandal of Money, and... of course... Life After Google.
He had retired from writing and newsletters for a while, but apparently he decided it's time to come back and get this new information out there.
Life After Google
Life After Google is George Gilder's latest book, and a very popular read. This is what's being given out to new subscribers of his investment advisory service (I'll go over this next).
In this book George talks about how companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, etc. all rely on "big data" to make much of their money and how they have too much control over it.
He believes this system will fail eventually, and the time is fast approaching.
Why? Well, some of his big reasons for this include:
1) The data isn't protected. People hack servers and steal data all the time, and this is one reason George believes this type of business model cannot last.
This is very true. Big hacks really do happen too often. In 2013 Adobe had 153 million user records exposed; Canva was hacked in 2019 with 137 million user accounts exposed; Ebay had 145 million user accounts exposed from a hack back in 2014; in 2018 Marriot's database was hacked and 500 million customers' records were exposed, and the list goes on and on.
Now in some cases it's not so much of a big deal, but this all depends on the data that these companies store on users. If they only store your name and email it's not so bad, but if they have your SSN, DOB, financial info and so on... this could get ugly.
2) These big tech companies have massive, what George calls, "data silos" that house all of these servers which store the data. These run very hot, suck up a ton of electricity, and have to be built next to glaciers, wind farms, hydropower plants, etc. to run.
This is also true. People often don't consider the energy required to keep the internet, as we know it with Facebook, Google, etc., running. Large companies like this have millions of servers and "server farms", or "data silos" (your choice), scattered all over the world. And then you have large payment processors like Mastercard and Visa processing thousands of transactions per second, which requires a ton of electricity as well.
That said, I wonder what he has to say about the electricity consumption of blockchain-using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is pretty ridiculous considering how little this currency is actually used on a global scale.
*Note: Also, Google and many of these companies are going full-force with renewable energy. Google sources enough carbon-free energy each year to match their consumption.
The Solution: George thinks Blockchain
George is a big pro of blockchain, which is a lot more than just Bitcoin.
Blockchain is the tech behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it's much more than that.
In a nutshell, blockchain is a decentralized and transparent way to store data... completely different from the methods currently used by Google, Facebook, etc.
Some of the main concerns Gilder has about the current system for storing data is that a handful of large companies control all of it and that it is vulnerable to hackers, as we have seen time and time again. Blockchain fixes both of these problems. It's decentralized, and because of this it is nearly impossible to hack.
Ratings
Here at Green Bull Research we are used to reviewing books that have been written more for marketing purchases than to actually provide good information. This is NOT one of those books.
Life After Google is a very well written work that has received very good reviews overall.
On Amazon the book is available in hardcover form for around $20 and has about a 4 out of 5 star rating - this is good.
Of course there are some negative reviews who either don't agree with Gilder or didn't realize what they were purchasing, but most are good.
Some exerts from several recent positive reviews include:
- "Mr. Gilder has done us average, earth-people a great service by writing this book exposing the fatally-flawed premise of Google's hierarchical 'system of the world' and unveiling the soon-arriving heterarchical or 'blockchain' system."
- "George Gilder is one of the big thinkers on our planet right now. In this book he argues that we are leaving the world of google ‘big data’ and entering the world of ‘blockchain’."
- "George Gilder describes in great detail how Google and “Big Tech” control global data and why decentralization using blockchain will return control of data back to the people of the world instead of the tech leviathans such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. Very interesting read and highly recommended!"
Bonus: "The Missing Chapter"
There is a newer addition of this book that is only being given out to people who get it through this particular sales funnel that I'm reviewing, which is the one were you get the book if you purchase a subscription for his "The George Gilder Report" advisory service, which I'll talk about next.
This "missing chapter" is all about investment opportunities. In it he provides specific recommendations for investing, such as:
- a company that is "moving toward world domination", but still remains relatively unknown
- a payment processing app that "could be the domino that topples the Google business model"
- a streaming company that might become the "Netflix of China", and its shares sell for much lower than Netflix
- the "backdoor" to invest in the 5G revolution
- and more..
The George Gilder Report
This is the final stop of the "REBOOT" presentations that are out there. The goal is to bring in new subscribers for this subscription service.
The George Gilder Report is a follow-along style investment advisory service that tells subscribers what to invest in and when. If you are someone who wants to invest in the latest tech trends but isn't sure where to start, then this might be for you. From AI, to the Internet of Things, to 3D printing and so on, George Gilder's report is broken down to provide information and recommendations on a regular basis to keep subscribers up-to-date with what's going on and where to put their money.
Here's a breakdown of what you'll get if you decide to subscribe:
- Monthly Issues - Each month subscribers get the latest issues of the George Gilder Report newsletter. This is the meat and potatoes of the subscription. Each issue will provide a detailed analysis on the market and at least one new investment recommendation that you can take advantage of. These are sent out via email.
- Weekly Reports - A month is a long time to wait between newsletter issues, and so there are also weekly reports to keep you updated on the trends and how the recommended investments are doing/where he thinks things are going. These are also sent out via email.
- Quarterly Q & A's - Each financial quarter George will tune in with his subscribers and answer some of the more important questions he's been asked. These Q & A sessions will be broad-level, so don't expect him to answer very specific questions. There just isn't enough time for that.
- Convergence Video Series - This is a series of short videos that goes over what George calls his "convergence" theory of opportunity and outlines how he goes about picking investment recommendations and whatnot.
- Member's Area Website Access - Subscribers will be able to get access to all of the past reports and issues when logging into the website member's area.
And that's basically it. Usually there are also a series of bonuses, aka special reports or extra briefings that you'll get too, but these change often. Of course right now one of the bonuses to joining is that you get the Life After Google book.
The cost to join this service is just $19 for the first year, or at least that is what I'm seeing through this particular sales funnel. I suppose this may be a discount however.
$19 is actually quite unbelievable and I don't know why this is so cheap. As I mentioned earlier, this is about the cost of the book alone on Amazon, and here you get the book with an extra chapter as well as this advisory newsletter service. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Track-Record - Can You Trust Gilder's Recommendations?
George Gilder has been called a "technology profit" by Forbes as well as by The Economist, Bill Gates and the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, both listen to what he has to say, he's made accurate predictions with the coming of the smartphone long before the iPhone, and the list goes on.
George definitely is the type of guy you'd want to listen to when it comes to technology trends. However, this George Gilder Report service is still pretty new and doesn't have much of a track-record, so if you do buy into this you'll just have to trust in the man behind it, George Gilder himself.
Quick Recap & Conclusion
- George Gilder is predicting a major "REBOOT" of the internet
- He predicts that blockchain technology will replace much of the current data architecture that is used with big companies like Google, Facebook, etc.
- Gilder was retired for a while but has since came back and published a new popular book, called Life After Google
- Right now he's giving this book out as a bonus if you subscribe to his investment advisory service, The George Gilder Report, which provides market analyses and recommendations regularly
- The bonus copy of Life Without Google that is being given away through this sales funnel has an extra chapter that provides specific investment advice you can act on right away
So, the big question... should you buy into this?
If you're someone that wants to stay informed on the latest tech trends then you should consider it. That said, I can't really provide that great of an answer here just because this service doesn't have a long-standing track-record. If you are thinking about joining, be sure to read up a bit more on George Gilder first and see if you think he's someone you'd like to keep you updated on things.
The good news is that this newsletter service is really affordable, only $19 for the first year, and there is even a money-back refund policy within the first 90 days if you don't like what you get.
Hopefully this review has helped you out some. And remember, your own due diligence is always important!