And they mean it! The authors of WIKINOMICS, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, are serious when they lay out the principles of the future of business... no, for the world, "Collaborate or Perish". Example after example of both failures and successes show us that there is more than possibility or potential in this concept, there is inevitability. They share the 4 basic principles of Wikinomics: (be it for a company or a country) openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.
Yes, it's true that we are in a shift. And while many are quick to say that as we move from the Baby Boomers to Generation Y and now to the Millennials, we are merely undergoing a generational transition. However, this is a paradigm shift, that is occurring simultaneously to a generational transition. The changes we are seeing are so vast and radical that every generation will be affected in unmeasurable ways. Other examples of similar shifts include the printing press, the automobile, the telephone, etc... These are all new tools that make the world smaller. Tools that create a smoother connection between people, companies and countries.
Now, we have the web. Not just the "publish and read" version of Web 1.0, but the "read / write" version of Web 2.0. This is the next connection that will catalyze change and introduce us to the future.
"The new Web - which is really an internetworked constellation of disruptive technologies, - is the most robust platform yet for facilitating and accelerating new creative disruptions. People, knowledge, objects, devices, and intelligent agents are converging in many-to-many networks where new innovations and social trends spread with viral intensity."
"The next twenty years of globalization will help sustain world economic growth, raise world living standards, and substantially deepen global interdependence. At the same time, it will profoundly shake up the the status quo almost everywhere -- generating enormous economic, cultural and political convulsions."
-Wikinomics
