The Master Switch
E292447
The Master Switch is a nonfiction book by Tim Wu that explores how communication industries tend to cycle between open innovation and closed, monopolistic control.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Master Switch canonical | 4 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2724726 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Master Switch Context triple: [The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, shortTitle, The Master Switch]
-
A.
The Inevitable
The Inevitable is an English rendering of the name of Surah Al-Waqi'ah, a chapter of the Qur’an that vividly describes the certainty of the Day of Resurrection and the final sorting of humanity into different groups.
-
B.
The Masterplan
"The Masterplan" is a 1995 B-side compilation track by British rock band Oasis, widely regarded by fans and critics as one of their finest songs despite initially not appearing on a studio album.
-
C.
The Zero Theorem
The Zero Theorem is a 2013 dystopian science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, featuring Christoph Waltz as a reclusive computer genius tasked with solving a mysterious mathematical formula that could reveal the meaning—or meaninglessness—of existence.
-
D.
The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead is a non-fiction book by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that explores the future impact of personal computing and the internet on society, business, and everyday life.
-
E.
The Blackout
"The Blackout" is a rock song by U2 from their 2017 album *Songs of Experience*, noted for its heavy bass-driven sound and politically charged lyrics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Master Switch Target entity description: The Master Switch is a nonfiction book by Tim Wu that explores how communication industries tend to cycle between open innovation and closed, monopolistic control.
-
A.
The Inevitable
The Inevitable is an English rendering of the name of Surah Al-Waqi'ah, a chapter of the Qur’an that vividly describes the certainty of the Day of Resurrection and the final sorting of humanity into different groups.
-
B.
The Masterplan
"The Masterplan" is a 1995 B-side compilation track by British rock band Oasis, widely regarded by fans and critics as one of their finest songs despite initially not appearing on a studio album.
-
C.
The Zero Theorem
The Zero Theorem is a 2013 dystopian science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, featuring Christoph Waltz as a reclusive computer genius tasked with solving a mysterious mathematical formula that could reveal the meaning—or meaninglessness—of existence.
-
D.
The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead is a non-fiction book by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that explores the future impact of personal computing and the internet on society, business, and everyday life.
-
E.
The Blackout
"The Blackout" is a rock song by U2 from their 2017 album *Songs of Experience*, noted for its heavy bass-driven sound and politically charged lyrics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
nonfiction book ⓘ |
| author | Tim Wu ⓘ |
| awarded | 2011 Goldsmith Book Prize ⓘ |
| centralConcept |
cycle between open and closed communications systems
ⓘ
rise and fall of information empires ⓘ threats to the open internet ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| explores | how communication industries move from open innovation to closed monopolistic control ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
film industry
ⓘ
internet industry ⓘ radio industry ⓘ telephone industry ⓘ television industry ⓘ |
| genre |
business history
ⓘ
media studies literature ⓘ nonfiction ⓘ technology policy literature ⓘ |
| hasFormat |
audiobook
ⓘ
ebook ⓘ hardcover ⓘ paperback ⓘ |
| hasPageCount | ~384 ⓘ |
| influenced |
discussions of media consolidation
ⓘ
policy debates on net neutrality ⓘ |
| isbn10 | 0307269930 ⓘ |
| isbn13 | 9780307269935 ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| libraryOfCongressClassification | HE7631 .W8 2010 ⓘ |
| notableFor |
argument that open systems tend to become closed over time
ⓘ
historical analysis of major U.S. communication industries ⓘ |
| oclcNumber | 503042652 ⓘ |
| proposes | the Cycle theory of information industries ⓘ |
| publicationDate | 2010 ⓘ |
| publisher | Alfred A. Knopf ⓘ |
| setsIn | United States media and communications landscape ⓘ |
| shortTitle | The Master Switch self-link ⓘ |
| subject |
antitrust
ⓘ
communication industries ⓘ information empires ⓘ innovation ⓘ media history ⓘ monopolies ⓘ regulation ⓘ telecommunications ⓘ |
| subtitle |
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
ⓘ
surface form:
The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
|
| timeCoverage | early 20th century to early 21st century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Master Switch Description of subject: The Master Switch is a nonfiction book by Tim Wu that explores how communication industries tend to cycle between open innovation and closed, monopolistic control.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Tim Wu