Chapter 11. Peering Insights

I readily admit that this book is flawed. Any book on a subject as rapidly evolving and controversial as peer to peer and with as ill-defined scope as in this term will inevitably be both incomplete and unsatisfying to at least some readers. On the other hand, an attempt at greater coverage could easily have resulted in something approaching Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire—which empire, interestingly, exhibited several characteristics common to p2p models during several periods of its existence.

Although the selection of technologies and choice of perspective could have been made in other ways, with perhaps equal success in satisfying a reasonable portion of readers, I would be remiss in not taking space to include this last part about general insights, future and vision. Again, the scope and views may not be to everyone’s liking, but surely it must at least prove thought provoking.

However, in the open and consensual spirit of true p2p, I offer it to you freely in accordance with the “Law of Two Feet” which pragmatically states: “If you like it, you walk in. If you don’t, then you walk away.”

Welcome then to Part III, which is less about p2p technologies as such and more about how they are used. Mainly, it’s about the social contexts in which they are used—contexts that they have the power to profoundly affect, disruptively or constructively.

The first chapter in this concluding part looks at the “insights” aspect, and some practical conclusions are drawn regarding the use of p2p networks. Social themes, some hinted at in earlier chapters, become prominent from this perspective and deserve a deeper examination. The last chapter attempts to peer into the future, at best discernible as shadows rapidly moving in the mist.