“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

In contrast to the preceding post, WIRED’s editor-in-chief has a column that suggests that on the business side of things, the crisis has revealed the vulnerability and growing inflexibility of industry giants and that going forward production is likely to fragment into “pop-up shops” (my term, not his).

To all the usual reasons why small companies have an advantage, from nimbleness to risk-taking, add these new ones: The rise of cloud computing means that young firms no longer have to buy their own IT equipment, which helps them avoid having to raise money or take on debt. Likewise, the webification of the supply chain in many industries, from electronics to apparel, means that even the tiniest companies can now order globally, just like the giants. In the same way a musician with just a laptop and some gumption can accomplish most of what a record label does, an ambitious engineer can invent and produce a gadget with little more than that same laptop.

Of course, this doesn’t explain who is going to provide massive scale cloud computing…