Reinventing Knowledge Systems: With an Application to Recent Systemic Changes in East and South Asia

Abstract

Abstract The paper is built around a critique of the recent book by McNeely and Wolverton, entitled Reinventing Knowledge. The paper first contests the concepts of ‘knowledge’ and ‘institutions’, before arguing that the ‘systems’ within which knowledge is embedded are in reality growing more and more complex. The huge scale and scope of the present‐day Internet in our view invalidate their rather one‐dimensional view of knowledge accumulation and their downplayed interpretation of the impact of the Internet. Our historical studies indicate that the Internet ‘revolution’ lies at the core of the ‘Third Industrial Revolution’ the advanced industrial nations are currently experiencing, which seems likely to transform the worlds that such nations are facing, not just in certain technologies or products, but in broader domains of the organization of production and innovation, their management and governance. The final section of the paper assesses the recent ‘growth dynamics’ in Eastern and Southern Asia and finds mostly confirmation of the points already made, in societies that eagerly await them.