Wednesday, March 21, 2012

How Super-Connectivity Kills Economics

Davidow, Bill. "How Super-Connectivity Kills Economics." The Atlantic, March 20, 2012.

From the opinion: "For those of you who have been following my posts here, you'll notice a familiar refrain: I see the explosive growth in interconnections driven primarily by the Internet as something that, if ignored, can lead to dangerous situations. Because they're so powerful, interconnections must be handled with care -- something our current crop of economists and policy makers have failed to do.

Since the late 1980's, economists have been concerned about the effects of positive feedback, a term used to describe a process where growth creates more growth. As the Internet multiplied and strengthened interconnections, positive feedback increasingly drove our economic, financial, political, business, and social spheres, which in turn led to overconnectivity. The result has been a more volatile and less predictable economy -- an economy that has stymied policy makers." Read more