I have been stressing that every solution in the form of a new technology creates some new challenge, some new problem. Stated as a general rule, every technology contains the seeds of a problem, often several. This is not a “law” of technology or of the economy, much less one of the universe. It is simply a broad-based empirical observation—a

Its standard doctrines were built upon the bedrock principles of predictability, order, equilibrium, and the exercise of rationality;

Technology builds itself organically from itself, and this will be one of the themes of this book.

And so the nature of modern technology is bringing a new set of shifts: In the management of businesses, from optimizing production processes to creating new combinations—new products, new functionalities. From rationality to sense-making; from commodity-based companies to skill-based companies; from the purchase of components to the formation of

I have had to make some decisions in the writing of this book. For one, I decided to write it in plain English (or what I hope is plain English). I am a theorist by profession and nature, so I have to admit this has caused me some horror. Writing a book about serious ideas for the general reader was common a hundred or more years ago, but today it

Economics itself is beginning to respond to these changes and reflect that the object it studies is not a system at equilibrium, but an evolving, complex system whose elements—consumers, investors, firms, governing authorities—react to the patterns these elements create.

Early technologies form using existing primitive technologies as components. These new technologies in time become possible components—building blocks—for the construction of further new technologies. Some of these in turn go on to become possible building blocks for the creation of yet newer technologies. In this way, slowly over time, many

One simple definition of biological cognition—as say with E. coli bacteria sensing an increased concentration of glucose and moving toward that—is being able to sense an environment and react appropriately. Thus, as modern technology organizes itself increasingly into networks of parts that sense, configure, and execute appropriately, it displays

The first and most basic one is that a technology is a means to fulfill a human purpose.