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Cyberspace And The American Dream: A Magna Carta For The Knowledge Age

Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age


This statement represents the cumulative wisdom and innovation of many dozens of
people. It is based primarily on the thoughts of four "co-authors": Ms. Esther
Dyson; Mr. George Gilder; Dr. George Keyworth; and Dr. Alvin Toffler. This
release 1.2 has the final "imprimatur" of no one. In the spirit of the age: It
is copyrighted solely for the purpose of preventing someone else from doing so.
If you have it, you can use it any way you want. However, major passages are
from works copyrighted individually by the authors, used here by permission;
these will be duly acknowledged in release 2.0. It is a living document.
Release 2.0 will be released in October 1994. We hope you'll use it is to tell
us how to make it better. Do so by:

(The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a not-for-profit research and educational
organization dedicated to creating a positive vision of the future founded in
the historic principles of the American idea.)

Preamble

The central event of the 20th century is the overthrow of matter. In technology,
economics, and the politics of nations, wealth -- in the form of physical
resources -- has been losing value and significance. The powers of mind are
everywhere ascendant over the brute force of things.

In a First Wave economy, land and farm labor are the main "factors of
production." In a Second Wave economy, the land remains valuable while the
"labor" becomes massified around machines and larger industries. In a Third Wave
economy, the central resource -- a single word broadly encompassing data,
information, images, symbols, culture, ideology, and values -- is actionable
knowledge.

The industrial age is not fully over. In fact, classic Second Wave sectors (oil,
steel, auto-production) have learned how to benefit from Third Wave
technological breakthroughs -- just as the First Wave's agricultural
productivity benefited exponentially from the Second Wave's...