Oh, no! Not another "New Economy"

Howard Rheingold, the guy who gave us “smart mobs,” now sees a new form of economic collaboration emerging from all the blogs, Googling, open source, Amazon ranking and other stuff. Gives me a sense of deja vu. Wasn’t this called the New Economy a few years back? Anyway, he’s talking it up in a Business Week article. I do think that the vast increase in communication, transaction, and interaction that the internet (see, not “Internet“) produces is creating a new level of social/economic cohesion globally. It a kind of glue–not strong like epoxy, but “tacky” like Post-Its. Rheingold says:

…I think we’re seeing hints, with all of these examples, that the technology of the Internet, reputation systems, online communities, mobile devices — these are all like those technologies…that made capitalism possible. These may make some new economic system possible.