Information and knowledge society and network economy: from euphoria to reality

This paper examines the future of industrial capitalism, and more precisely the rise of the new information and knowledge society (IKS) and the development of the information network economy. We propose an interdisciplinary approach connecting economic analysis and information and communication sciences. First, we describe the euphoria over the new IKS. Then, we show that information networks lead to new economic laws, but not to a new civilisation. Even if new information technology accelerates changes, we must distinguish between Utopia and reality. Beyond euphoria we show the need for new crit ical approaches concerning technology, information and knowledge. We can thus explain the mechanisms of various myths of the IKS.