

Myths of the Knowledge Society--It's Not New - skmurphy
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/10347.html

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skmurphy
One example cited:

"Walter Wriston pointed out that "A person with the skills to write a complex
software program that can produce a billion dollars of revenue can walk past
any customs officer in the world with nothing of ‘value’ to declare." And this
is true. But the ability for a person to carry knowledge of huge economic
value in his head is by no means new. An interesting example is provide by the
U.S. textile industry, which basically began in 1789 when Samuel Slater left
England for America with his vast knowledge of how textile machinery operated.
(In order to protect what we would now call intellectual property, emigration
of textile workers was actually prohibited by British law)"

