[p2p-research] Brock

[Ryan Lanham]

On 3/1/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> we did mention it on our blog,  it's indeed a stellar presentation,
>
> Michel
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 7:40 PM, Linda Nowakowski <lindern at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Didn't know if you had seen this and couldn't find it on yoursite though I
>> found a lot of other references to Art Brock.
>>
>>
>> http://prezi.com/xmzld_-wayho/new-economy-new-wealth/
>>
>

I liked the Art Brock presentation, too.  I particularly like the fact that
he makes capitalism, socialism and communism all equally obsolete--a point I
concur with strongly.  Where I don't personally accept his argument is in
the domain of "productivity."  There is no strong proof or even any
inkling that information itself leads to productivity.

Learning and learning machines certainly both do, but information must be
applied to achieve productivity--particularly the quantum leaps Art Brock
anticipates.

So long as the means of applying information are scarce (that is, mental
capacity is limited and libraries and research, etc. are not open) then
there can be little or movement toward the post-capital economies he
discusses.  Too often we assume this leap (because we have experienced the
major impact of Google/Wikipedia, etc.) when in fact it is the crux of the
matter.

The HOW of widescale learning and learning machines is the key enabling
factor.  Of course once we have these learning engines, people will need
access to them.  At present, systems like Google are at best very imperfect
in valuing data, etc, so we still ask filter humans such as physicians to
make sense of all the studies, etc.  This will increasingly decline as
machines become more trustworthy.  Here to there is the step that moves us
out of the boundary lands Art Brock depicts us in.  I'd label his top box
"learning" not information.  Information, strictly speaking, informs.  But
that is not the way we use the word.  We use it to mean something closer to
data.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/attachments/20100301/215cbd5b/attachment.html>