Jon Lebkowsky on Mon, 14 May 2001 20:51:21 +0200 (CEST) |
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RE: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy |
> From: nettime-l-request@bbs.thing.net > [mailto:nettime-l-request@bbs.thing.net]On Behalf Of Steve Cisler > Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2001 7:49 AM > To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net > Subject: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy > > > To the organizers of Tulipomania in Amsterdam: pat yourself on the back > but don't dislocate your shoulder. > > Steve > --- > > May 13, 2001 New York Times Magazine > > The Peculiar Ruins of the New Economy > > Photograph by RICHARD BARNES Text by DAVID BROOKS Steve et al, I'd read this bit of fluff already, and I don't have much to add to Tiffany's conclusions. Only, perhaps, that the whacky boomtown new-economy manic phase did churn enough investment to fuel innovations that might otherwise have taken much longer to evolve. The real problem with the 'new economy,' IMO, had nothing to do with the technology, which is clearly a boon and here to stay. The problem with the 'new economy' is nothing new: it's the same downsides of capitalism that nettimers know so well: greed and avarice. I argued here some weeks ago capitalism (corporations) are just a form of organization, that greed is not inherent but the product of a failure to instill any sense of ethics in our legions of fresh-scrubbed MBAs, the same folks who siezed the Internet as their own and called it an "industry." Manic growth is never sustainable, and it's a relief to see this latest bubble burst (anyone who's lived in a boomtown won't be surprised to see this side of the cycle). The question now is how we evolve an ethical tradition so that whatever form our future may take, we learn to be more humane and to think in terms of sustainability. The real new economy should be founded on an ethics of economic justice, which is antithetical to the net-boom focus on growth at all costs. (We have an uphill battle, of course, given the politics of the current executive administration of the U.S.) best, Jon L. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net