A qui appartient l'avenir? / Who owns the future

In his book "Who owns the future", Jaron Lanier criticizes the way the digital economy has grown. He considers as unfair the disymetric link which has been established between the companies controling the social networks and the participants. As a pionner of "virtual reality", Jaron Lanier knows well the situation he describes. He helps to deconstruct some of the illusions surrounding the "immaterial ecnomy". He shows that if no adequate measures are decided, it might play quite a negative role, by increasing unemployement and social inequalities.In the present society "information" tends to play the same role as "capital" in the indusrial society. Those who detain the information can derive profit by exploiting the work done by others.

The analysis presented in the book is not quite complete. The ralationship netween finance and the digital economy is only briefly mentioned whreas its economic impact seems much bigger than the impact of social networks. Still the book is quite stimulating and might help to improve our views concerning the way the digital economy should evolve.

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Dans son ouvrage "Who owns the future", Jaron Lanier critique la façon dont l'économie numérique s'est développée et en particulier la relation dissymétrique que les compagnies gérant les réseaux sociaux entretiennent avec leurs participants. L'ouvrage de Jaron Lanier est intéressant à de multiples égards. D'abord, parce que l'auteur connait bien le milieu dont il parle, ayant été l'un des pionniers de la "réalité virtuelle". Ensuite, parce qu'il peut aider à se dégager de quelques illusions concernant les vertus de 'l'économie immatérielle". Il montre en effet que si l'on n'y prend pas garde, elle pourrait conduire à un chômage massif , à des inégalités croissantes et à une progressive disparition des classes moyennes.