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Wednesday, November 14, 2001 |
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The next society by Peter Drucker in the Economist >>> You need a subscription to the Economist to access this or you can buy one-time access for $2.95. Drucker's insights are always worth at least that much and you probably ought to read the Economist anyway. This is a typically insightful review and analysis of what the emerging knowledge economy is likely to look like and what it's likely to mean for most of us. Worth the time. A few excerpts: ...knowledge workers, collectively, are the new capitalists. Knowledge has become the key resource, and the only scarce one. This means that knowledge workers collectively own the means of production.
The knowledge society is the first human society where upward mobility is potentially unlimited. Knowledge differs from all other means of production in that it cannot be inherited or bequeathed. It has to be acquired anew by every individual, and everyone starts out with the same total ignorance.
...the knowledge needed for any activity has become highly specialised. It is therefore increasingly expensive, and also increasingly difficult, to maintain enough critical mass for every major task within an enterprise. And because knowledge rapidly deteriorates unless it is used constantly, maintaining within an organisation an activity that is used only intermittently guarantees incompetence |


