Core point:

1. Money is time: by paying for goods and services, we are actually paying for the knowledge embedded in them, and the time that this knowledge saves us.
   
2. Wealth is Knowledge: wealth is not an accumulation of material things, but is driven by knowledge. From oil to chips, their value is derived from the accumulation of human knowledge in their extraction, smelting, processing, and transportation.
   
3. Information is accidental: information is disordered, cluttered, and accidental; whereas knowledge is verified, rigorously ordered, and reusable. Learning is the process of transforming information into knowledge.
   
4. Growth is learning: growth, whether of an individual, a business or a nation, comes from learning, from the process of trial and error, of validating information and turning it into knowledge.
   

Key Facts and Discourses:

Critique of traditional economics

Gilder criticized traditional economics' obsession with material wealth and scarcity, calling it the “materialist fetish”. He argued that this view led to a pessimistic view of economic growth, believing that resources were limited and growth was unsustainable.

Time-price theory

Gilder used a wealth of data and examples to demonstrate that the price of time theory is the key to understanding wealth and growth. He points out that as knowledge accumulates and technology advances, the price of time for goods and services continues to fall, meaning that people can get more in less time and living standards continue to rise.
Example:

• In 1919, Americans needed to work 330 minutes to buy a pound of bacon; by 2019, they only needed to work 21 minutes, a drop in the price of time of more than 90 percent.
  
• In 1904, the price of time for industrial diamonds dropped by 99.98%, meaning that in 2015 people could buy 4,262 diamonds in the same amount of time it takes to buy one.
  

Moore's Law and the Nature of Growth

According to Gilder, the continued validity of Moore's Law proves that “growth is learning”. The chip industry has achieved exponential growth in chip performance and exponential cost reductions through trial and error, learning and innovation.
“Moore's Law ...... was derived simply by observing the industry's ability to learn ...... This law, which seems somewhat lacking in theoretical underpinnings, has magically been verified time and time again in practice in reality. ”

Growth of the Firm

Gilder argues against Coase's theory of the efficiency of firm growth and argues that firm growth is learning-driven. Firms need to continually learn new knowledge to adapt to changing environments, and this learning occurs primarily within the firm.
“Company growth is always learning-driven ...... This learning comes from experimentation and testing, from accidents and failures. And all of this happens within the company.”

Understanding of money

Critiquing the traditional view of money as a commodity, Gilder argues that money is a carrier of information, and that its value derives from the scale and degree of innovation of the economic activity it represents.
“Money is a carrier of information, and its value derives from the scale and degree of innovation of the economic activity it represents.”

Evaluation of Bitcoin

Gilder believes that while Bitcoin has potential, its fixed total volume limits its utility as a currency.
“Bitcoin ...... its fixed aggregate volume limits its utility as a currency.”

Building the Future of the Information Economy

Gilder suggests future directions for building the information economy, including:

• Creating a decentralized digital currency based on the blockchain to address internet security and currency manipulation.
  
• Replacing government-controlled IP addresses with a decentralized network architecture to drive the “Internet of Things.”
  
• Encourage entrepreneurship and innovation to drive knowledge growth and wealth creation.
  

Summary:
Gilder's The Post-Capitalist Era is a disruptive reflection on traditional economics, offering new perspectives on understanding wealth, growth, and future economic development. He emphasizes the importance of knowledge, learning, and innovation, and points the way forward to building an information economy .

Some additional observations:

• Gilder's assessment of China's model of economic development: The book mentions China's economic success without adopting the traditional Western model of economics, but also points out some of the problems with the Chinese model, such as excessive government control over the economy.
  
• Optimistic attitude towards technological progress: Gilder is optimistic about technological progress, believing that technological progress will continue to reduce the time price of goods and services and improve people's living standards.
  

Points to note:

• Gilder's views are not without controversy and some economists have questioned the validity of his theory.
  
• The construction of the information economy faces many challenges, including technological, regulatory and social.

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How does knowledge drive the evolution and future shape of capitalism?

In his book The Postcapitalist Era, George Gilder proposes a new theoretical framework for economics, which he calls the “information theory of economics”. At the heart of this theory is the idea that wealth is knowledge, growth is learning, information is the unexpected, and money is time. Gilder argues that traditional views of economics, such as resource scarcity and zero-sum games, cannot explain economic growth in the digital economy. He argues in favor of viewing knowledge and information as the primary drivers of economic growth.

Here's how Gilder's views explain the evolution and future shape of knowledge-driven capitalism:

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From material to knowledge resources: While traditional capitalism focused on the accumulation and distribution of material resources, the post-capitalist era is more concerned with the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge. Gilder argues that the value of the silicon economy comes primarily from the knowledge embedded in the chips, rather than from the substances themselves, such as silicon, oxygen, and aluminum. Similarly, when we buy goods and services, we are actually buying the knowledge contained in those goods and services.

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From Zero-Sum Games to Knowledge Sharing: The traditional view of economics is that wealth is finite and therefore the distribution of wealth is a zero-sum game. However, Gilder argues that knowledge can be shared and grows as it is shared and exchanged. The emergence of the Internet, especially Web 3.0, will further facilitate the dissemination and sharing of knowledge, thus contributing to sustained economic growth.

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From price thinking to value thinking: While traditional capitalism focuses on price and profit, the post-capitalist era focuses more on value creation. Gilder emphasized the concept of the “price of time,” which is the amount of work time required to produce and purchase a good or service. He argued that as knowledge accumulates and technology advances, the price of time continues to fall, meaning that people can get more goods and services in less time.

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From Business Efficiency to Continuous Learning: While Coase argued that businesses exist to reduce transaction costs, Gilder argued that businesses are places of learning and innovation. Businesses drive economic growth through continuous experimentation, trial and error, and learning by transforming information into knowledge and applying it to products and services.

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FROM GOVERNMENT CONTROL TO FREEDOM TO INNOVATE: Gilder advocates reducing government intervention in the economy and creating an environment for entrepreneurs that is free, open and encourages innovation. He argues that the government should play the role of a low entropy carrier, providing a stable monetary policy and legal framework, rather than attempting to dictate the direction of the economy through subsidies and controls.

In sum, Gilder argues that knowledge is the key factor driving the evolution and future shape of capitalism. The post-capitalist era will be a knowledge-centered era in which wealth will come from the creation and application of knowledge, growth will come from continuous learning and innovation, and the economy will be driven by entrepreneurship and free markets.

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Information theory has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of wealth, growth and money, challenging traditional notions of economics.

**Wealth is intellectual, not material. **Traditional economics views wealth as a scarce material resource, but this is a “materialist fetish”. True wealth is knowledge, which is reflected in our ability to create products and services. For example, when a luxury car is crashed, its constituent materials remain the same, but its value is dramatically reduced because the impact destroys the knowledge it contains. Similarly, a chip derives its value not from its constituent materials (silicon, oxygen, and aluminum) but from the design and manufacturing knowledge embedded in it.

**Growth is learning, not material accumulation. **Traditional indicators of economic growth such as GDP focus on material output, but information theory emphasizes that the essence of growth is learning, the process of continuously acquiring new information, transforming it into knowledge, and applying it to practice. Entrepreneurs continue to trial and error, learn and improve in their business activities, which drives technological advancement and productivity gains that lead to economic growth. The existence of a learning curve proves this: as output increases, unit costs fall, reflecting the effects of learning and efficiency gains.

**Money is time, not a commodity. **The traditional view sees money as a commodity, but information theory suggests that the essence of money is a symbol of time. The real price we pay for goods and services is the time we spend acquiring money. Time-price theory relates the price of a good to the hourly wage of a worker, more accurately reflecting the true cost of the good. From a macro perspective, the more resources a country can obtain per unit of labor time, the higher its level of economic development.

All in all, information theory provides us with a completely new perspective for understanding economic phenomena:

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It emphasizes the central role of knowledge and learning in creating wealth and driving growth.

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It highlights the importance of time in economic activity by viewing money as a manifestation of time.

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It reveals that the true driver of economic growth lies in continuous learning and innovation, not material accumulation.

By applying information theory to economics, we can better understand the characteristics of the digital economy era and develop more effective policies to promote sustainable economic development.

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In the knowledge economy, assessing and measuring abundance and progress requires a shift from traditional price thinking to value thinking, and from a focus on material resources to a focus on knowledge and information. Here are some key ways to extract from given sources:

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Price of Time: This is a key measure of economic progress, reflecting the amount of goods and services that workers can purchase per unit of labor time. The price of time can be derived by calculating the nominal price of a good divided by the nominal wage of a worker. A decrease in the price of time indicates that the economy is becoming richer and has more purchasing power.

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Knowledge Accumulation: Wealth is no longer just material resources, but knowledge and information. By innovating the way resources are used, humans can replace material with wisdom and drive economic growth. Therefore, assessing progress in a knowledge-based economy requires a focus on the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge.

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Learning Curve: Economic growth stems from learning and can be measured by a learning curve. The learning curve reflects the tendency for unit costs to fall as output increases. Moore's Law in the chip industry is a classic case of a learning curve that demonstrates exponential growth through continuous learning and innovation.

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Focus on accidents and failures: Information is accidental, and learning and progress come from what we do with accidents and failures. In the knowledge economy, encouraging experimentation and trial and error, and learning from failures, is critical to driving innovation and progress.

In sum, assessing and measuring abundance and progress in the knowledge economy requires a shift from material resources to knowledge and information, from a focus on price to a focus on value, and a focus on learning, innovation and the ability to learn from failure.