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>> General Interest >> "AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE NEW FRONTIER OF CYBERSPACE"
"The next information revolution is well under way...It is not
a revolution in technology, machinery, techniques, software,
or speed. It is a revolution in CONCEPTS."
(Drucker, 1998) "
"Money is what fueled the industrial society.
But in the informational society, the fuel,
the power, is knowledge.
One has now come to see a
new class structure divided by those
who have information and those who
must function out of ignorance.
This new class has its power not from
money, not from land, but from knowledge."
- John Kenneth Galbraith
Bill Gates once described the "Information Age as the "Wild
West of Cyberspace." A few years ago, he also said there
would be two kinds of businesses in the year 2001:
1.those online
and
2. those out of business!
What is knowledge?
"He who receives an idea from me receives instruction
himself, without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper
at mine receives light without darkening me."
- Thomas Jefferson
We are becoming ever-more a "knowledge society" - with
the rapid diffusion (big word!) and exchanging of huge
amounts of information daily. This makes the sheer volume
of knowledge difficult to absorb.
A few personal thoughts...
I believe NOW is an ideal moment in history to look with
fresh eyes at the kind of society we want to create, in a
world, where knowledge is replacing the old sources
of wealth and power as the driving force in the world's most
successful societies.
In recent years we are seeing "little" New Zealand's rapid
transition from a pastoral to a knowledge economy (and
society), as we are fast "catching and riding the knowledge
wave". I believe it's more "an age of wisdom" in sharing
information world-wide through the amazing power of the
internet.
Businesses MUST "get with the times" and respond by
embracing the enormous international opportunities offered
by the Internet. It's either ADAPT or DIE ("a slow lingering
death").
I believe that we should be finding new paths for social and
economic development New Zealands economy and society
need to be driven far more by knowledge, technology and
innovation than in the past.I feel we need to urgently seek
a STRATEGY for this "NEW KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY" that we
are living in. We should "forge, mould and hew a knowledge
society out of the old by catching this immensely powerful
Knowledge Wave"... then riding it like the giant waves from
the winter storms at Waimea Bay in Hawaii - to the
absolute best of our individual abilities.
Here in far-off New Zealand (near the bottom of the world),
I believe we have an excellent
foundation to be extremely successful in the global economy.
However, we must move speedily ahead to be a far more
"knowledge-driven" economy; otherwise we could become
"also rans" in the ultra-competitive global market place.
I truly believe that many New Zealanders have not yet
recognised that the Internet is the modern equivalent
of the 'freezer ships of yonder', that revolutionised our
economy last century. As we enter the twenty-first century,
the Internet will be our 'key vessel' for reaching global
markets from these far-off "sleepy shores".
In doing this we WILL find
new paths for social and economic development. Knowledge
is replacing the old sources of wealth and power, as the
driving source in the world's most successful societies.
We must become a "knowledge export" platform...and that
is the vision for my little business, Eagle Productions based
in provincial NZ.
In effect, we are creating wealth through the comercialisation
of ideas. We are utilizing to the fullest, the amazing creative
potential of the human IMAGINATION to reach the world.
"The "digital divide": In the future there will be a widening
gap between those with the skills in the new technological
age and the "not so well off", those "poor souls", who have
not put in the effort to update their computer and
technological skills. It is a matter of using our resources
wisely in this "digital age."
Here in NZ I believe, we need to be driven far more
by knowledge, technology, innovation and renovation.
The first step is transforming the innovative spirit that
allows we "Kiwis" (New Zealanders) to turn no.8 wire into
innumerable useful tools around the farm, into a commercial
operation. It's simply a matter of "sharpening the pencil" of
New Zealand's focus on e-commerce. Refocussing existing
economies and enhancing existing products (traditional,
such as agriculture and horticulture) through adding value
via the world wide web. Utilising the best
of the old, yet with the hope and optomism of the "new
world".
USE Information Technology with all the amazing powers
of the world wide web . With the web and e-mail, we must
always keep technology in perspective - by using it for 'ease
of communication at the click of a mouse', to make our lives
easier and market products and services around the globe
efficiently and cheaply in the early days of this "New Age of
Wisdom"!
Each individual has a responsibility, a great opportunity,
to utilise their utmost potential to gab this "moment in
history", this "heartbeat in eternity".
Make technology WORK FOR YOU -: for your (and
your family's good, your business and especially your country.
It's the spirit of its people that makes a country, any country,
great!
Craig Lock
It is not what your country can do for you, but what YOU can
do for your country."
- great former US President, John F. Kennedy
"The spiritual is stronger than any material force,
thoughts rule the world."
- the great and inspirational American philosopher,
Ralph Waldo Emerson -
"The nations that will be successful in the information
revolution may be large or small, and are unfettered as
to hemisphere. Assuredly, however, they will have
invested in the critical information, computer. social and
Internet infrastructures."
(McGovern, 1998)
"I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead
without it."
- Jonathan Winters
http://www.nzenterprise.com/
For interactive computer and internet coaching on CD, click on:
http://www.nzenterprise.com/4reel/
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THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED.
P.S: DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE WORLD ENDING TODAY,
IT'S ALREADY TOMORROW IN "LITTLE, SCENIC AND
TRANQUIL" NEW ZEALAND
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