New Rules For the New Economy

[vieome]

http://www.kk.org/newrules/contents.php A very good read and available free online for anyone interesting in understanding how technology is affecting the economy.

New Rules For the New Economy
Kevin Kelly

Intro

No one can escape the transforming fire of machines. Technology, which once progressed at the periphery of culture, now engulfs our minds as well as our lives. Is it any wonder that technology triggers such intense fascination, fear, and rage?

One by one, each of the things that we care about in life is touched by science and then altered. Human expression, thought, communication, and even human life have been infiltrated by high technology. As each realm is overtaken by complex techniques, the usual order is inverted, and new rules established. The mighty tumble, the once confident are left desperate for guidance, and the nimble are given a chance to prevail.

But while the fast-forward technological revolution gets all the headlines these days, something much larger is slowly turning beneath it. Steadily driving the gyrating cycles of cool technogadgets and gotta-haves is an emerging new economic order. The geography of wealth is being reshaped by our tools. We now live in a new economy created by shrinking computers and expanding communications.

This new economy represents a tectonic upheaval in our commonwealth, a far more turbulent reordering than mere digital hardware has produced. The new economic order has its own distinct opportunities and pitfalls. If past economic transformations are any guide, those who play by the new rules will prosper, while those who ignore them will not. We have seen only the beginnings of the anxiety, loss, excitement, and gains that many people will experience as our world shifts to a new highly technical planetary economy.

This new economy has three distinguishing characteristics: It is global. It favors intangible things—ideas, information, and relationships. And it is intensely interlinked. These three attributes produce a new type of marketplace and society, one that is rooted in ubiquitous electronic networks.

[adrianh]

Ag no man, I'll have to split my free time between watching TED talks and reading this site....

....Thanks for the link, this looks like a very good read....

[wynn]

One of the Seacom guys says that as Africa is not fully connected yet, broadband is like todays railway of last century and that eventually all business will be done via the net.

There must be huge opportunities out there. I hear the drums, the natives must be restless tonight.

[Dave A]

Only a minuscule percentage of the workforce performs industrial age tasks, yet our politics, our media, our funding, and our education continue the grand fantasy that industrial jobs need to be created. Within a generation, two at the most, the number of people working in honest-to-goodness manufacturing jobs will be no more than the number of farmers in the land—less than a few percent. Far more than we realize it, the network economy is pulling in everyone.

This is something I've been putting a fair amount of thought into for quite a while already.

I agree - the growth of the service industry is astounding compared to manufacturing and points to something. I'm just not sure it's the pull of the network economy.

A push from ever increasing smart automation and the pull of survival perhaps?
When you get pushed out of the old world way of making a living, what is the most accessible next option?

[Blurock]

The world is evolving and we can choose to evolve with it or become extinct like the dinosaurs.

As an example (and I'm quoting from memory, which may be bad) around 1900 the agriculture industry supported about 80% -90% of the population trough direct or indirect jobs. You were either a farmer or tractor mechanic, vet, auctioneer, livestock agent, clerk in a co-op or some other service provider to the agricultural sector.

Today less than 10% of employment is created by the agricultural sector.

I suppose the answer is to get out the old crystal ball and peek into the future to correctly align your business...

[IanF]

Today less than 10% of employment is created by the agricultural sector.

I suppose the answer is to get out the old crystal ball and peek into the future to correctly align your business...

Now what is that?
Something around the net and phones, but what!

[Blurock]

Now what is that?
Something around the net and phones, but what!

Service industries and tourism are the fastest growing industries at the moment.

If you have access to oil reserves, now is the time to sell your oil!
Or if you have an alternative - even better!

[vieome]

What I gathered from the book is that soon everything will be connected to everything, and future business will need to understand that, but also the ideal business to be in is a business that follows the software model. Take for example one would be wise to invest in a water purification business. You give the public(potential clients) the machine for free, and make money on upgrades and replacement filters for the machine. So instead of selling a product for what it is sell a product that you can continue to keep a network of clients with.