I enjoyed an article I just read on the BBC’s site, by the technology guru, Bill Thompson.  The article looks at the impact networks are having on society.  It draws the analogy with marxism, where the original economic theory was that the economic structure of a given society determines everything else.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6180666.stm

Having briefly been exposed to Marx and Engels as a economic student, I cannot help but wonder how they would have factored the internet in their grand theory of society.  Of course the deterministic part of the marxist theory, that states that the contradictions of capitalism would eventually lead to its inevitable collapse require some revision, given the apparent resilience of the capitalist system.  However the internet is transform the nature of the capitalist system itself, creating an accelerated information flow.  What new contradictions will emerge from this new, organic system?  I was reading Linked a book analysing the effect of links, hub and networks in mathematics, biology and the internet.  And although I’m pretty sure I did not understand a large part of it, it seems to call for a new theory of society, analysis the economic and social impact of networks on the future shape of society.  Has anyone written this yet? 

Please let me know…