The Sustainable Network

Chapter 23. Tearing Down Economic Boundaries

I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward.

— David Livingstone

In late 1989, one of the last great boundaries between people was torn down—the Berlin Wall. It was a physical barrier that divided East Germany from West Germany, and its fall epitomized the end of an era (the Cold War). The news was carried on TV and radio and in the newspapers of the day. The Internet existed, but was not in the great public spotlight and hardly played a role. Fast forward to today. The Internet has been tearing down one boundary after another, without fanfare and without much conscious acknowledgment. It's been a quiet, systematic march as the network fans out and delivers information and opportunity freely into the hands of more and more people.

One dramatic barricade that has been lowered is the barrier of entry into the marketplace, as the network daily brings people who might have previously been shut out into the economic fold. We have seen everything rush onto the network in the past decade. Business-tobusiness transactions, global financial markets, the banking industry, the housing industry, and just about every other way to make or spend money can now be conducted online. The network is a tool that almost every individual, business, and government can use to change their economic models and sustain economic growth potential.

Skeptical? On ...