Knowledge is Power; PC’s made me rich and powerful! When I started my business, it was in the ’80s, the age of VHS video cassettes and analog TV broadcastings. My first encounter with computers was earlier. My father was a professor, a doctor an engineer who happened to get his Ph.D. in Informatic A. So as a kid, I was lucky to become familiar with the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64, the first personal computers.
My dad wrote manuals for some of these computers, which ended up in the US’s top ten best-selling computer books. As a result, my dad had access to the newest computer games, and the first PC’s in the 70s. I was a fast learner. I loved computer games and praised my new knowledge, and so did others. Many wanted to be my friend to play computer games at my home. I asked my father what a floppy disk is and how you make a copy.
I am interested in computers. My dad could not believe what he heard.
My father was baffled his son was interested in computers. Unfortunately, I was a rebel son, kicked out of many schools. He explained how to do this. So I decided to copy the games on a floppy disk. Then sell them at my school for one hundred guilders each. I knew right there I wanted to be; an entrepreneur. I was 12. The computers gave me power and determined my future.
Keylogger and Knowledge
I left school at age 15 with a swimming diploma and a driving license. I will not get into the details of how I started several companies, but skip that part (read my upcoming book) and go to the part I was already a well-known fight manager. In 2000, I employed an American guy who was good with computers. He is a video editor who started to work for my company. He digitized the whole fight library I created by producing Fight Events from analog to digital. It was because of him I discovered the following tool “Keylogger.”
My employee gave me a golden tip.
He told me stories about hacking and what he could do remotely from computers. I wrote extensive reviews about my fight team for magazines and my website. And I told him I had difficulties with computer programs. Sometimes I would lose my text and have to start over again. He informed me there was a computer program called “keylogger.” This program copied all the text you would write. It then installs all the copied text in a specific program as a backup.
My ex-girlfriend is my first victim of the keylogger.
The beauty of this tool was that you could hide it on installation and ask for access with a password. Indeed, I installed this on my girlfriend’s laptop, and it caused some hilarious moments. I would know precisely the passwords she uses and every word she types on Facebook or by e-mail. I would then say your face tells me you talked to your ex again. Imagine the kind of power you get through such a simple computer program. Well, you get the picture.
I forgot, but I suddenly remember having a “keylogger” on my laptop.
By coincidence, I once brought my laptop downstairs to the New Takanawa prince hotel lobby in Tokyo, Japan. I work from the hotel hall during one of the K-1GP finals. Overall I had a good relationship with some of the K-1 staffers. We worked out contracts and profiles many times; this took place in the lobby of that hotel.
One of the K-1 staff employees asked me if they could use my computer for a minute. The Japanese K-1 staff person wants to use my laptop to access their mail. The person told me I would forward you the statistics on some opponents right now. I said sure. Now, there was no evil intent, and I did not even think about the Key logger program then.
No more secrets and guessing for me!
Two days later, I checked something in the keylogger program. I recognized the password of the Japanese K-1 (FEG) employee e-mail. Well, I could not help myself, and from that day on, my world changed. I would know exactly which matchmaking they preferred. Who they would like to have and promote in the future. How much money they would be willing to maximum pay for certain fighters?
I knew what everybody was making and how long their contracts were. The venue cost, their promotions, how much the sponsors paid, and TV contracts, you name it. Now, knowledge is power, and I started to use all this information to build my team to become the most potent fight team in the sport.
I feel like a spy from NASA. By now, I bring my laptop everywhere. And fabricate a story for drastically needed information on the spot working with other organizations. Would you like to use my computer? I once got a mailing list of 40.000 people who ordered fight videos through the secretary of a big company. A few months later, I mailed my new catalog to all of these addresses.
I obtained a mailing list of 40.000 active addresses who bought fight gear and videos. This mailing list came from advertisements in their martial arts and other magazines. It took them 15 years to create such a mailing list. In a Nanosecond, my keylogger said thank you!
My American friend could even remotely install the little Key logger tool to infiltrate computers on the other side of the planet. I did not go that far.
I became an expert because of all the information I consumed!
The result was that I read tons of information daily, which eventually led to so much knowledge that I could see a similar pattern. It became so evident that I could predict with 90% accuracy without peaking in others people’s mail what would be said and done.
So, for people who do not believe that knowledge is power, start reading those books about becoming successful. It will give the same results without cheating through that keylogger program. I became a master in persuasion. I would behave differently with certain people, but the same tactics always resulted in positive results. A key logger of 29.95 potentially made me millions. I forced myself to read books on this subject to gain knowledge. How to make life better has a similar price, and it will produce the same result legally.
Power of Persuasion.
The book “Win Bigly” by Scott Adams is a must-read. He describes how easy it is to predict an outcome knowing human behavior. And the way the most response to specific actions. Above all, people often misinterpret communications because of a different mindset.
Have a simultaneal sip of coffee with Scott Adams on his youtube channel.
Scott Adams’s book “Win Bigly” is about the power of persuasion. The basic instruction to get what you want in your personal life and business or government. He analyses the movement and speeches of President Donald Trump. The WH even invites Scott for a meeting with the president.
Other books like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The Law of Attraction by Rhonda Byrne and many autobiography books of presidents, musicians, and people like Steve Jobs or “Virgin’s” Richard Branson.
Don’t get me wrong, but “knowledge is power” is used by governments worldwide in many ways.
The government knows how valuable information is.
The NSA spies 24/7 for many reasons like domestic and international terrorism. The Chinese steal (identity theft) anything they can get their hands on. The biggest (billion $) bank heist did not come by a group of men with machine guns. But computer hackers were committing the hack of the century (from North Korea).
The personal information we share on Facebook, social media, clouds, and mail is gold for the big corporations and NASA. Whatever these companies tell you about safety, it is never 100% accurate. My Instagram got hacked. So I have a computer nerd friend who chased this back to some Russians. I asked my friend why they did this. Because they did not ask for money or any response for that matter. His answer was that they can and want to show the world they can.
Gary Mc Kinnon was the Scottish hacker (do not think for a second that all hackers are from North Korea or Russia). Mc Kinnon peaked into the NSA computers.
AI is the future, and it happens now.
It is almost 2019, and the age of Artificial Intelligence has arrived. The knowledge of AI is incredible. They sell billions of smartphones, and the “human” zombie squad is on a digital highway for a minimum of hours a day. Hundreds of millions are looking for their next like on Facebook or Instagram. They do this to get a little good feeling and rush for a second.
Censorship has arrived, especially for conservatives like Alex Jones, who has been completely banned from Social Media and even removed from the App store. The tech giants know how much power information is. Put your money in AI and content and focus on the trillion-dollar industry. Artificial Intelligence will take over, it’s a sure bet, and tons of cash must be made. For the last two months, I have been busy with being a father again.
I will encourage my newborn son to become a computer programmer. Or anything in this direction as this is the future, and it’s right around the corner. If he prefers to become a fighter, I will not stop him, but I would rather have him kick ass in the tech industry and entrepreneurship, following in the footsteps of my father than me. That is the knowledge I have and will try to pass on to him.
Bas Boon was invited to Tokyo, Japan, my speech for CLSA.
https://basboon.com/i-was-invited-to-tokyo-japan-my-winning-speech-for-clsa/
(C) Bas Boon www.basboon.com