Hi chris,
Wirbel well and truly does need to stop paying the least bit of attention to the crowd at the Economist. Their dour view of the world is paralleled by Alan Abelson at Barron's and Jim Grant at (of all things) Grant's Interest Rate Observer. Well, guys, here's a clue. The old economy is dead. Interest rates don't matter. This was proven so conclusively in the 80's that I'm appalled that otherwise intelligent commentators just don't get it. There is a revolution going on and Wirbel, who is at the eye of the storm, just blinked. But he did not get off the bus. I'm in his camp, it seems hardly believable that bits and bytes could possibly be more salient than kilocalories and barrels of crude, but that is exactly the situation we find ourselves in. Imagine a world, in which anyone who can produce an extra 20% of protein rich soybeans on a given acreage is regarded with a snore, while anyone who can increase bandwidth by an order of magnitude is rewarded with Croesean riches. That is the age we live in. It seems a bit of a dream, this bandwidth bonanza, many commentators are leery of this ephemeral achievement. And yet, it is as real as any accomplishment of the human intellect to date. And it is significantly more profitable. So why fight reality, even if it appears as a chimerical, virtual and ephemeral glimpsing of the potential of human consciousness? My advice? Anticipate a brilliant future. You will not be disappointed.
Your Humble Corresponding Secretary, the Fool on the Hill |
