Few things are having a greater impact on our lives today as the fast accelerating forces of change. Most societies are baffled by it, many try to ignore it, while a handful of humans try to comprehend it. The problem is, few of those who comprehend it are in any position of authority to do something about it. A vast majority of people in authority are simply scared stiff and are using all their ingenuity to hide these changes under the carpet, and then behave as if they are in complete control. Many of these guys then go and play golf with others like themselves, so that they can trade war stories about how they understand these major shifts. Having sweated it out on a Thursday [or Saturday] morning, they then head for home, comfortable in the knowledge that others of their generation are equally baffled and don't want to spoil their handicaps thinking about these things. The trouble is that the world takes no notice of the unpreparedness of these decision makers, and relentlessly steam rolls ahead in its single minded pursuit of dislodging the status quo.

Why is this happening? Because we are being buffeted by several waves of change at the same time. Just look around yourself. How many people still think that land and buildings are their most important assets? How many others still think that wealth is the last word in superiority? And then how many people think this is no longer true and are seriously working with the clear understanding that the ultimate power lies in knowledge through information.

For sure, there are all three types coexisting today. This puts severe pressure on the citizenry and brings about social and other forms of conflict. Ideologies themselves begin to collide. These cross winds bring about strange new forms of thought and power relationships that reflect upon work, family life, society, and everything else. These forces of change are cutting through the very fabric of societies today. Is this the a super struggle of the coming century?

Much as we may like to believe that these changes are simply chaotic, the simple truth is that they are part of a larger, hidden order of tomorrow. There is a bitter battle being waged between those who seek to preserve industrialism and even agriculturalism on one hand, and those who are pushing the envelope to replace it with the brave new world of information and knowledge.

For centuries, man lived as a hunter and gatherer. Life began to change radically only three hundred and twenty years ago. The industrialized countries were in need of markets and inexpensive men and materials. This could only be found in far flung lands. The advanced economies thus conquered agriculture led regions all over Asia and Africa.

Thus the industrially advanced countries won over agrarian nations and regions. The height of these tensions could be felt when industrially advanced countries - Germany and Britain - fought against one another, while keeping the agrarian nations in their subordinate positions. The classic divide was thus born of the industrial age - you had a domineering industrialized Western civilization which ruled over several subordinate agricultural age colonies.

This is simply no longer applicable. Today we find ourselves hurtling towards a world being trisected into three competing civilizations - the agricultural, the industrial, and the informational.

What roles are being played out today? The agricultural world is supplying the food and mineral resources, the industrial world is providing the cheap labor and mass capacity factories, while the
rapidly rising informational world is creating new forms of dominance by its ability to create, extrapolate and manipulate information into knowledge.

Just ask yourself - which form of power is likely to have the highest leverage - mineral resources, huge factories, or knowledge? The answer stares you in the face, and no matter how uncomfortable you may feel about it, the truth is undeniable. The more unpalatable it I, the more real it is.

It is in this context that countries and companies must view their strategic plans and policies. No longer is there any point in holding on to information and doling it out to one's constituents in small and ossified dollops. This by itself serves to create the chink in the armor. Information is useless unless it can be converted to knowledge. And anyone who believes that only a fortunate few possess the ability to convert information into knowledge is kidding himself and jeopardizing everything and everyone around him.

Just look at the Internet. What is it? It is the informational equivalent of the vast railroad, electricity, and telephone networks of the industrial era. When the first steam locomotive was born, the First Duke of Wellington warned the House of Lords that this would liberate the masses. It sure did. Suddenly people and material could be easily transported across great distances to factories. The steam locomotive in fact gave impetus to the industrial era. The light bulb transformed electricity. Millions of miles of telephone cable brought about the first wiring of minds across the world. Gutenburg's printing press in the fifteenth century found a great ally in the first coherent telephone message of Alexander Graham Bell exactly one hundred and twenty one years ago [March 10, 1876].

The telephone cable and its successors have wired the world today thanks to the semi conductor. Thus was the Internet born. Underestimate the power of the Internet at your peril. It is the single biggest paradigm shift of this century and life can never be the same again. Much of the research for this article was done by surfing the Internet.

The Internet is enabling people to wire their minds with like-minded people and to freely gather any information they want. Soon, we will have two types of communities - the dominant ones who provide the information on the net, and the dominated types who will depend upon that information for survival.

No community can afford to put a cap on the Internet and expect to dominate anything in this world, or even command a position of eminence in global affairs, be it business or anything else. The technology will drive business strategy in the future, and social computing will provide the fuel.

Intel's Andy Grove talks of the Internet as the 'universal backbone' of networked computing. He talks of a 'strategic inflection point' for a variety of industries - particularly those in the services sector.

Just think, what is the industry here, if it isn't almost entirely services. If we fail to comprehend the importance of information and knowledge, if we ignore the development in this area and get lost in the jungle of brick and mortar, if the very backbone of services is relegated to low priority, the race will be slowly but surely lost.

Few things are more important for us today than comprehending the crashing and clashing waves of accelerative change, and focusing on building not just the neural networks of information, but more importantly the minds that will navigate these networks. For what the networks contain will be far less important than what use it is put to by the minds that dip into it.