F<sub>L</sub>EXIBI<sub>L</sub>ITY AND ADAPTABI<sub>L</sub>ITY AS REACTIONS TO CHAOS
Chaos is not a disruption of an otherwise stable network; rather, it is one of its chief characteristics. Chaos, in fact, becomes the new sine qua non of the economic environment to which economic actors need to react with flexibility and adaptability. As the title of another Wired article proclaims “Chaos Is the Form” (Hughes 1994), a title that alludes to the turbulent, unexpected form of technological advance. In this realm, the article says, “things are not the way they seem.” Chaos and unpredictability are the only constants in the network economy, so much so that the best sign that something goes wrong is if everything seems to be going right: “Anyone in a business who understands it completely is probably already failing.” This, according to the article, is particularly true to businesses in the technological field, where the success and failure of technological innovations is completely unpredictable. The article gives an example of a “bulletin board system operator, whose BBS operates out of his basement, grossed more than US\$5 million last year. That BBS will probably be gone next year, but the operator had recovered his investment in the first two weeks of operation.” On the other hand, “a lot of smug businesses, organizations, and implementations built around technology are going to be bypassed in the next few years—so fast it won’t even be funny. I’ll bet the Internet as we know it will be passé in five years—just as the largest number of people are waking up to it and making investment decisions about it. They will soon look foolish” (Hughes 1994).
Network Market
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