I don't know what the experience of others is, but the Internet has really made my own job easier. However, I am not a productive member of society, I am just a lawyer.
I am able to review potential medical malpractice cases by doing research on the Internet. That's why I got connected to the Internet back when it still used Unix. It sure beats driving to a good medical library. I am certainly more productive, my turnaround on a case has dropped considerably.
Probably a lot of so-called knowledge workers have had similar experiences.
Further, as a consumer, the Internet has really made comparison shopping and buying at a discount easier.
I don't know how you measure the effect of these improvements on the economy - I'm not sure it can be measured.
Nevertheless, the problem with Gilder's statement, IMO, is that most of the wonderful companies he is referring to just make it easier and faster to use the Internet. We are disseminating and receiving information faster than ever before, and it's richer than ever before, but it's just information, it's not goods, and it's not services. Improved access to information improves the speed at which goods and services can be produced, but that increase in speed cannot continue to improve at the rate at which it has been going. There is a limit, a bottleneck. At some point, you will have to actually make something, or do something, with the knowledge that you have. No matter how fast the flow of information is, man is the bottleneck.
Heinz may have already said this better. |
