Stuart Hall, Vicnet
It is arguable that the information revolution that we are currently experiencing is a 'great leap forward' for human capital accumulation in much the same way that the agricultural revolution was for social capital and the industrial revolution for physical capital. If that is so, then it is a very significant development indeed and is likely to have genuinely revolutionary impacts on our society.
This paper will argue that, just as there were characteristic technologies and forms of society that arose from the agricultural revolution and from the industrial revolution, there will be characteristic technologies and forms of society arising from the information revolution.
Those technologies are pretty obviously ICT technologies, but what are the characteristic social forms? Using as a starting point the idea that capital is accumulated by exercising 'effective control' over resources, the paper will explore the ways in which human capital might be accumulated through 'effective control' over knowledge. It will then try to draw some conclusions as to the way society might develop and what measures might be needed to ensure that this human capital accumulation delivers the maximum benefit.
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