The Seventh Sense Power, Fortune and Survival in the Age of Networks Joshua Cooper Ramo 1 . Part One: The Nature of Our Age In which the revolutionary character of our era is explained. The need for a new instinct is introduced. The historical stakes are weighed. Chapter 1: The Master Chapter 2: The Age of Network Power Chapter 3: The Unbuckling Part Two: The Seventh Sense In which we regard the world with a new sensibility. Connection, we discover, changes the nature of an object. Chapter 4: The Jaws of Connection Chapter 5: Fishnet Chapter 6: Warez Dudes Chapter 7: The New Caste Chapter 8: “A mechanism and a myth”: The Compression of Space and Time Part Three: Gateland A guide to power in the world that becomes newly apparent with the Seventh Sense. Chapter 9: Inside and Out Chapter 10: Defense in Depth Chapter 11: Citizens! 2 Preface Three hundred years ago the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution began their pounding work on the foundations of an ancient order. Like twin hammers, these forces demolished most of what once seemed permanent: Kings, alchemists, popes, feudal lords – they were all undone. Today, a fresh hammer is cracking away at our world. The demands of constant, instant connection are tearing at old power arrangements. The formation of networks of all kinds, for trade and biology and finance and warfare and any of a thousand varied needs, is producing new and still dimly understood sources of power. They are eroding the roots of an older order even as a new one is beginning to appear. In fact, this process is only beginning. The networks ahead of us will be even faster than those we have today. They will also be informed by artificial intelligence. The combination of these two forces – instantness and thinking machines – will further deepen an already profound change. That last great shift of the Enlightenment was a violent and wonderful transformation. It produced winners and losers, triggered tragedy and lit fresh triumphs. What lies ah