unit43 The Networked Economy Explosion 网络经济爆炸（在线收听）

本文看点

凯利发表的《新经济之新规则》一书提示了网络经济中取得成功的“丰富”法则 ――力量来源于丰富(Power comes from abundance), 这与传统的“物以稀为贵”(Value comes from scarcity)恰恰相反。一些明智的电脑公司走赠送之道，免费发放网络浏览器，推动销售电脑辅助产品与配套服务。

What we’re witnessing today in the realm of cyberspace – the online reformulation of everything from the way we plan and learn to how we shop and trade stocks – may represent no less a world-transforming change than the spectacular burst of creation in the era of Cambrian Explosion (寒武纪爆发) so long ago.

New Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly is a guidebook that informs us about what to expect and how to deal with the fabulous things to come. The key premise of this book is that the principles governing the world of soft – the world of intangibles, of media, of software, and of services – will soon command the world of the hard – the world of reality, of atoms, of objects, of steel and oil, and the hard work done by the sweat of brows.

The book appeals to geeks (怪人) and also turns on mainstream readers who are a little more than curious about where the digitally rendered world is headed. Where it’s likely headed, in Kelly’s words, is “upside down”. Chew on the idea that “the surest way to smartness is through massive dumbness”. What that means in essence is that tiny computer chips, though relatively dumb on their own, can be added to billions of mundane (平庸的) objects and, thereby, yield substantial economic benefits.

In the conventional world of supply and demand where we all grow up, value came from scarcity. As in diamonds, gold and oil. In a world of digital imperatives, power comes from abundance. That was a principle Apple (苹果电脑公司) tragically failed to understand when it backed off from licensing its graphic computer interface, assuring that its market share would be savaged by Microsoft’s more open Windows operating system.

That leads us to another of Kelly’s laws: follow the free. As the law of plentitude kicks in, savvy companies such as Netscape (网景公司) distribute its Web browser for free in order to sell auxiliary services or products. Similarly, expensive cell phones are offered as freebies (免费品) to gain contracts for phone services.

Kelly finally tells us to look around and see how much the world has changed under our own feet. An American farmer today may still get some dirt under his fingernails, but much of his labor is performed under the umbrella of the electronic network. His tractor has a wireless phone and a satellite-linked GPS location device; his home computer is connected to a never-ending stream of weather data, grain market reports and moisture detectors in the soil.