I think we can unanimously agree that the world is changing. It’s always changing. That’s not news. What is news is the pace at which internet technology is changing and how quickly society is adopting and using it. Just as electricity was a revolutionary innovation and evolved in its purpose and usage over time, so is the internet, and it behooves us to understand the internet and its implications on business.

Our view is that the world is indeed moving at a faster pace than ever before – largely in part to the rapid advancement of core technologies as expressed through Moore’s Law and Kryder’s Law, decreasing bandwidth costs and the pervasive adoption of the internet and wireless technologies. And in order to help keep up with these changes, we are suggesting that companies adopt (http://www.20adoptioncouncil.com/Blog/) collaborative networks – social technologies with robust collaborative tools to get work done. The power of collaborative networks is at the crux of our video.

There’s a bevy of writing on the topic of the impact of the internet and collaborative technologies – most of which is probably familiar to you:

* Here’s Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Comes_Everybody
* The Groundswell by Forrester: http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/
* Enterprise 2.0 by Andrew McAfee: http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-2-0-Collaborative-Organizations-Challenges/dp/1422125874
* Big Switch by Nicholas Carr: http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/bigswitch/

And related research, which talks even more about how unprecedented these changes are:

* The Big Shift: http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2009/08/defining-the-big-shift.html
* The Shift Index: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/About/Catalyst-for-Innovation/Center-for-the-Edge/article/f142fcb75ef22210VgnVCM200000bb42f00aRCRD.htm
* Trends underlying Enterprise 2.0 by Andrew McAfee: http://andrewmcafee.org/2006/03/the_three_trends_underlying_enterprise_20/

Due largely in part to the aforementioned qualitative and quantitative research, we are convinced that underneath the technology-hype hyperbole we do indeed see a societal, economic and technological movement unlike before.

Because we indeed are tech-friendly we appreciate the different perspective your “Future Hype”-related opinions proffer.

P.S. We appreciate you mentioning your book. After taking a look we hope to buy a copy soon to ensure we keep a fully-informed perspective.

http://www.amazon.com/Future-Hype-Myths-Technology-Change/dp/B002HJ3EEQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Take a different technology and a different 40-year period, and you can find social change equal to what we’ve experienced with computers. Sure, computers have shaken up things in the last 40 years. But so did railroads from, say, 1830-1870. Or the telegraph (1850-1890). Or cars (1910-1950). Or airplanes (1930-1970). Or skyscrapers, bridges, and dams (1890-1930). It took a lot less than 40 years for mechanized printing presses to give society the penny newspaper. Or look at the telephone, plastic, or lots of other technologies.

This is a bit of a hot button topic for me because I wrote a book about it: “Future Hype: They Myths of Technology Change” (2006).

I realize that this is tangential to your point, but I just wanted to toss out that different viewpoint, FYI.