THE INCONCEIVABILITY OF GOOGLE, and the lessons to be drawn from that, are the subjects of my TechCentralStation column today, which carries the somewhat racy-sounding title Horizontal Knowledge: Just try this thought experiment: Imagine that it’s 1993. The Web is just appearing. And imagine that you – an unusually prescient… [Instapundit.com]
A great column from Glenn Reynolds over at TechCentralStation. Here’s the punch line:
The Web, Wi-Fi, and Google didn’t develop and spread because somebody at the Bureau of Central Knowledge Planning planned them. They developed, in large part, from the uncoordinated activities of individuals. [Reynold’s Wrap-TechCentralStation]
Glenn’s in one more voice in the growing realization that top-down planning and control strategies are relatively weak when set against the grassroots ingenuity of large groups. These are insights that have to be brought back inside organizations and put to use.