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Ian Angell, dubbed 'the Angell of Doom'
by The Times (London), lays out his manifesto for
the New Barbarians who will lead the economic elite into
a brave new world over the next two decades. He rejects
the long-held view of information technology as our benign
liberator from mundane work. Instead, he regards it as the
seed for a new society, in which the winners in the knowledge
economy will construct their own 'smart regions' founded
on libertarian principles and enlightened self-interest.
The losers, however, face a bleak future.
The three evils of socialism, racism and religious prejudice
will prey on the economic insecurity of the masses, as transnational
businesses roam the globe in search of ever cheaper labour.
If this scenario seems unlikely, look now at the life prisoners
in US jails who operate telesales services for major US
companies.
Angell predicts that IT, far from creating
the path to Utopia, will spell poverty for the many and
self-governing opulence for the few. Only those individuals
with the knowledge, talent and power to guide this social
revolution will prosper, liberated from taxation, while
semi-skilled and unskilled workforces become commodities,
and the billion disenfranchised production workers worldwide
compete on price against more efficient robots.
This brave new world is already taking shape.
You might not like Angell's warning of what it will be like,
but you cannot ignore it.
Ian Angell is one of the world's leading
information technology gurus and visionaries -- as well
as one of the most controversial. He is Professor of Information
Systems at the London School of Economics, one of the most
prestigious Information Systems Chairs in the world. He
is a member of the United Nations Steering Committee of
Education, Science and Culture Organization for East West
Cooperation. He was educated at the University of Wales
and the University of London.
He has written numerous books on information
technology including Intelligence:
Logical or Biological and is a
regular contributor to journals in the field. He appears
regularly in the media due to his highly controversial views
on the global consequences of information technology. His
views are increasingly sought by politicians, business leaders
and information technology companies throughout the world.
His growing reputation and many of the
ideas in The New Barbarian Manifesto
are the culmination of ten years' work developing a new
perspective on the Information Age, stressing that the social,
economic and organizational issues are more important that
the technological ones.
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