Fourth Revolution value creation system related resources
The value creation system in the world beyond the Fourth Revolution will be different from the Industrial Age. And, most importantly, it's measurement will have to be completely changed. The standard accounting principles we inherited from the onset of the Third Revolution (also called Industrial Revolution) will be insufficient.
Value of a network
The laws describing the value of a network are the following:
Sarnoff's law describes the value of a broadcasting system. Basically it is proportional to the number of participants.
Metcalf's law describes the value of a point-to-point, interactive telecommunication network like the telephone or the fax. It increases like the square of the number of participants, more precisely like n(n-1)/2, the number of possible combinations.
Reed's law, applicable to collaborative social networks, states that it's value increases exponentially with the number of participants, counting the number of subgroups.
The intrinsic value of a social networks is then inconmensurably higher than the value of a telecommunication network, which is already but larger than the value of a broadcasting network.
Books
There are not a lot of books that tackle directly the issue of value creation in the Collaborative Age - probably because that's still a bit difficult to fully understand.
Yet there are a few inspiring books on the matter, like Free by Chris Anderson, 'how today's smartest businesses profit by giving something for nothing'.
Also to be mentioned, the book 'Wikinomics - how mass collaboration changes everything' which treats directly of the issue of value in the Collaborative Age
Creativity
The encounter of ideas on the network leads to creativity. See the Resource center page on creativity.
Value measurement system beyond the Fourth Revolution
Standard accounting considers people as a liability (expense) and inventory as an asset. This is because it tries to measure the value of the organization from the owner's perspective, as if it was to liquidated tomorrow.
But we all know the value of an organization is the people, and that excessive inventory is a liability in a world where we don't manufacture commodities.
One of the best demonstrations, albeit in a manufacturing environment, is given by Eliyahu Goldratt in the book 'the Goal'. Easy to read, it gives the foundations of the Theory of Constraints, a very important approach to resource management. It also clearly explains why conventional accounting is deeply flawed in terms of value measurement.
How computers and algorithms change the world
How algorithms shape our world, a TED talk by Kevin Slavin. A great video that shows how algorithms now change our world - not just virtually but also physically. The insights are fantastic - and sometimes scary. The Fourth Revolution at work, live!
