The economic history of the United States is one of leadership in inventing new things. First we invent them, then we make the things for the entire world (providing many excellent jobs in the U.S.), then the cost of obtaining the means for making the things is reduced and other countries with lower business costs begin to make the things, and we import from them. People here who made those things lose their jobs, and the entire situation is very dismal, and causes real suffering to the unemployed individuals and their families.

However, this type of "creative destruction" has long been a hallmark of the U.S. economy, and is in fact the reason our quality of life is today so good.

To succeed, it is necessary always to be inventing the new, re-inventing new things that are like old things but in fact so much improved that after a few generations of reinvention you'd never guess where the original idea came from. Our U.S. economy has been very good at doing this. Despite the displacement and anquish that this causes, I'd much rather be here, a part of this vital, energetic economy, than live somewhere like France where they have 11% unemployment ALL the time, and you can get in trouble if the authorities see you working any extra hours above the mandated 35-hour work week (or whatever it is there at present).

In the U.S., our efforts can make a difference. There, everything and everyone is regulated. Here, creativity can be rewarded, and highly so.

With respect to technology: does anyone seriously believe it will cease to advance, cease to create new things. The NEW is where most jobs are created in our economy. How can Intel's multiplication of processing speed by 10 times between now and 2008 not produce opportunities for new types of software to be created for use on a home and business computers? Just as the stock market goes up, and up, and up, irrationally exhuberant, before it crashes down, then.. slowly.. recollects itself.. before.. proceeding again upward on the next wave of innovation -- so, software and the opportunities to develop and innovate within the realm of computers will have ups, downs, periods of creation of new opportunity, periods of destruction of over-extension and waste.

The world is changing. In 1900 everyone wanted the latest new thing, a "motor". Today, everyone wants/has a computer. In 2100, will people talk about "having a computer"? Do we talk today about having a motor? Yet, we have many of them, in all kinds of devices...

Computers are going to be integrated into society to the point where they will be invisible components that no one notices. The software that runs the computers will hopefully not also be invisible (I hope it's open source, that is) -- but software, code, will be like "law" (see Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig).

So, do we have nothing to write about? Ummm... I don't think we're in that situation. Must software books change? They will have to, since the integration of computers and "the Net" into society is changing, and changing very rapidly. Will there be jobs for software developers? Yes, when new companies start being created again (most new jobs are created in new companies, while old companies lay off people). Will new companies be created any time soon? It's starting to happen, again, slowly...

What's needed is venture capital. But venture capital becomes accessible only when the venture capitalist sees an exciting idea that seems very promising and pertinent. Where might these ideas first see the light of day? How about in the books we need to write?