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Review [published January 2000]
Kevin Kelly: New Rules For The New Economy
Chris Mitchell
Despite its dry title, Kevin Kelly’s book isn’t just
another self-styled business bible for the information
age. Instead, it’s an overview of what he terms the
“network economy”, which is not only superseding
the old paradigms of the industrial economy but transforming
how we live.
The network economy has been brought about by
the ever-increasing connectivity between machines,
most obviously demonstrated by the internet. But Kelly
argues that such connectivity goes much deeper. The
continually decreasing cost of silicon chips means that
there will soon be one embedded in every object that
we make, from computers to clothes to chocolate bars.
These “dots of intelligence”, as Kelly terms them,
bring about the connection of everything to everything
and with it, the flow of information required for commerce
to make ever more informed decisions about
satisfying the demands of the consumer, wherever they
are in the world. It’s those businesses which react fastest
to the changing need of their customers who will
prosper from the network economy.
While one might expect visionary hyperbole from
BUY Kevin Kelly books online from and
the executive editor of Wired magazine, Kelly skilfully
avoids falling into the trap of proclaiming technological
utopia. He acknowledges that the idea of a silicon
chip in every item may seem sinister to some and emphasises
that technology is not a global panacea.
But his arguments about the rise of the network
economy are made all the more convincing by his
continual reference to real-world examples, such as
corporate behemoths General Motors and IBM struggling
to adapt to new demands precisely because of
their size. What was once their big advantage has now
become a disadvantage. Kelly is not so much interested
in speculation about the future as to what is happening
at the moment.
For the consumer in the street, this flow of information
should mean that they increasingly get exactly what they
want, as companies stop producing for mass markets and
start catering for sizeable minority markets. This extends
from tangible products to information itself. The way in
which the net is beginning to overshadow television as a
news source is one such example.
The only subject which Kelly doesn’t address is the
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