《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词4500》92 The Networked Economy Explosion

（单词翻译）

　　Unit 92
The Networked Economy Explosion
What we're witnessing today in the realm of cyberspace¹ -- the online reformulation of everything from the way we play and learn to how we shop and trade stocks -- may represent no less a world-transforming change than the spectacular burst of creation in the era of Cambrian Explosion so long ago.
new Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly is a guidebook that informs us about what to expect and how to deal with the fabulous² things to come. The key premise³ of this book is that the principles governing th world of soft -- the world of intangibles, of media, of software, and of services -- will soon command the world of the hard -- the world of reality, of atoms, of objects, of steel and oil, and the hard work done by the sweat of brows.
The book appeals to geeks and also turns on mainstream⁴ readers who are a little more than curious about where the digitally rendered world is headed. Where it's likely headed, in Kelly's words, is "upside down". Chew on the idea that "the surest way to smartness is through massive dumbness". What that means in essence is that tiny computer chips, though relatively⁶ dumb on their own, can be added to billions of mundane⁷ objects and, thereby⁸, yield substantial economic benefits.
In the conventional world of supply and demand where we all grow up, value came from scarcity⁹. As in diamonds, gold and oils. In a world of digital imperatives¹⁰, power comes from abundance. That was a principle Apple tragically¹¹ failed to understand when it backed off from licensing¹² its graphic¹³ compute⁵ interface¹⁴, assuring that its market share would be savaged¹⁵ by Microsoft's more open Windows operating system.
That leads us to another of Kelly's laws: follow the free. As the law of plentitude kicks in, savvy¹⁶ companies such as Netscape distribute its Web browser¹⁷ for free in order to sell auxiliary¹⁸ services or products. Similarly, expensive cell phones are offered as freebies to gain contracts for phone services.
Kelly finally tells us to look around and see how much the world has changed under our own feet. An American farmer today may still get some dirt under his fingernails, but much of his labor¹⁹ is performed under the umbrella of the electronic network. His tractor has a wireless²⁰ phone and a satellite-linked GPS location device; his home computer is connected to a never-ending stream of weather data, grain market reports and moisture detectors²¹ in the soil.