Defining "Knowledge Economy"

What does The Jenius mean by "the Knowledge Economy"? The question is important because defining one's terms is the clear difference between substance and piffle.

The Jenius does not do piffle.

The Knowledge Economy is one where the driving force is intellectual capital, multiplied in effect by widespread technology. It is characterized by being very fluid (low entry barriers, high degree of change), heavily dependent on human resources, but not limited by them (think the power of 10 minds versus the muscle of 1,000) unconcerned with geographic boundaries or distance or time differences, capable of leveraging individual efforts to market-changing effects and is an economy that creates and destroys markets with savage precision.

The key skills needed to thrive in the Knowledge Economy are technical knowledge, imagination, problem-solving, strong sense of identity united with empathy, literacy, logic and the ability to improvise. Other skills, such as those needed for education, marketability and social leadership are extensions and additions to the ones listed.

The Jenius has said it before: Never in history has Puerto Rico had sufficient resources to become anything but a weak minor player in a global economy.

Until now. It's as if the tide of human history had turned in Our direction and declared: "You always said You could Do Great Things in the World if You had the Chance. Well, boricuas, here it is." And instead of leaping at the Chance and doing a salsa number in a world of waltzes, We're doing jacksquat. And stupid jacksquat, at that.

We are no longer "too small" to compete globally.

We are no longer "disconnected" from the world at large.

We are no longer "barred" from foreign markets. (And don't give The Jenius any of that "U.S. treaty forbids" crap: You can sell over the Internet to anyone You want to and that's a stone-cold fact.)

We are no longer "a minority." In the Knowledge Economy, the only minority is ignorance.

Okay, wait a minute, then maybe We still are a minority. Because if We continue to accept "limitations" when they have been removed, to accept "leadership" that is to intelligence what sewage is to gourmet food and to let the future go by because We are too lazy to Make It Happen, then yes, We are ignorant. We will be a minority. And the Knowledge Economy will be a fabulous party where We go only as janitors.

The Jenius Has Spoken.