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Myths of the Knowledge Society--It's Not New (chicagoboyz.net)
3 points by skmurphy on Jan 6, 2010 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment


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)"




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