Army of Davids Summary

The greatest truth I found in this book is Technology empowers ordinary people. Technology makes life go smoother, perform tasks within short time, brings confidence in people that they can do anything they wish to, with all simple ways and in every field. In Army of Davids the author summarizes his personal experiences with the changes brought by technology in the last decade, especially those which allow ordinary people to create goods and services which were once the province of large organizations. And he investigates topics that have long held his interest: beer-making, music, the Internet and broadcast media, games, nanotechnology, politics, space exploration, and life extension.

The author says that, with the growth of computers and the Internet you don’t have to be goliaths to get along. Like David’s sling, these new technologies empower the little guy to compete more effectively. Technology will influence the world in the present and the future, nobody can deny this. Reynolds takes the time to offer suggestions on how individuals and communities can begin to protect themselves from unexpected dangers in the wider world, especially when the larger organizations of governments may be unable to provide protection and assistance. The bad news, as Reynolds touches upon, is that these tools for co-ordination can also be used for destructive purposes. It will take yet another wave of technical change, and legal/social adjustment, for open societies to adjust to malicious and dynamic free riders.

Reynolds's contribution is to show how the widespread distribution of advanced technology has profound economic and social consequences. It's not merely that the big institutions are falling apart - it's that the big centralized institutions are being replaced or at least finding competition in, huge decentralized institutions with greater power and flexibility. This book is split into two halves. The first half is to make sense of what's happening now and the second half tries to prepare us for what's coming in future (Nanotechnology, feasible space travel etc.). The analysis begins with the growing number of small businesses, specifically work-at-home jobs, in contrast to Dilbert type office jobs. Reynolds suggests that this shift will continue and will be beneficial as a crime deterrent and for more stable families.

I agree to the points when the author says that there are plenty of technology around us, even in caveman days, there is technologies like fire and clothing. Technology changed hunters to farmers, farmers to Industrialists. Doing things on large scale than a small scale made humans to live a comfortable life. It also helps individual to get what they wanted. In today’s business world, job security is not promised, people are scared that they may lose their jobs anytime. But developing technologies brings more confidence and makes it easier for people to go on with their own self-employment. The one thing which I disagree is that when the author says that Americans spending on services has increased, and at places like Target, Wal-Mart or Costco people get less service. Still these shops are always busy, and lots of customers visit there. I feel that a good service is important as well as cost counts a lot more than services.

The biggest disadvantage in self-employment is that people have to spend on their own for their medical expenses. It was interesting when I read that eBay makes health insurance available to its “Power Sellers” who sell over $1000 a month and get good customer reviews and Amazon Associates program, which pays people referral fees for sales by customers they refer to Amazon’s website. It also helps people to do what they like. These are all a kind of encouragement for self-employed people.

Technology impacts a lot in our day to day life. Five ten years ago, to get information regarding education, I have to go to library, search particular type of book, turn a lot of pages to get that information which was time consuming. Today, whatever information I want, I get it immediately with the help of Google, Encyclopedia kind of websites. With the major growth of technology, the efforts of individuals and small groups, acting sometimes on their own and sometimes in informal cooperation with others are likely to make a bigger difference in the future than they’ve made in centuries. Overall ‘An Army of Davids’ is an informative and fascinating book to read.