Today, the 36-year-old sits on a fortune estimated at $200 million, probably a bigger pile than anyone else in the game, because he was sharp enough to cash in a sizable stake before the casino shut down. He spends his days renovating his roughly $20 million mansion in California's Marin County, collecting rare wine, and making multimillion-dollar donations to cardiovascular research. That is his reward for being among the first to spot the huge market for Web consulting -- and for working the boom better than just about anyone else.
~~ Ralph King on Scient and Viant founder Eric Greenberg.

It's three financial quarters after the April 2000 Crash, and media pundits are already proclaiming the death of the Dotcom Economy.

Hyper-speed gonzo Fear and e-Loathing has already engulfed the major E-consultancies and Internet-delivery services: Kozmo is dead and its team is in mourning, while marchFirst has declared bankruptcy, and Napster faces 27,000 new plaintiffs.

With most US domestic recessions lasting 8 financial quarters, it's enough to make Yahoo attempt to profiteer, like Danni Ashe, by e-pornography.

While e-gurus like Viant and Scient founder Eric Greenberg get away with siphoning $200 million fortunes for being "ahead of the curve" (instead of the real reason: screwing over their workers), the e-business press covers up the cold morning that dawns on America's workers. For Gen Xers, born under a bad (shopping mall) sign and now labelled Generation Bankrupt, it will be a very cold morning, indeed. Inter-generation warfare looms across corporate boardrooms with the arrival of the Millennials and the Organization Kid. Hmmm, wasn't exactly the Cashless Society we had in mind, was it?

Even if only a fraction of the horror stories featured on Dotgone Economy sites such as Fucked Company, Netslaves, and Dotcom Scoop are true, then the brief reign of the Internet Economy, only four years in the public consciousness to burn through untold billions of dollars, was a triumph of avarice over common-sense business practices. If you need convincing, just scan the article Boo and the Other Hundred Dumbest Moments in e-Business History. And if your company management was letting you play with Star Wars figures or play endless Foose Ball challenges against those Ice Bitches from the Creative Design team, then you weren't being a rebellious Cultural Creative, you were being infantilized.

Even Tom Peters admits to the tyranny of the performance review, the updated filofax, resume branding and project you as necessary biosurvival strategies in the corporate ecosystem.

See how the fear implanted by the business press is not-so-subtle? Consider the cycle of Fast Company issues: from the mantra of "It's the People, Stupid" (January 2001) to the reactionary reply "Over? Sez Who?" (February 2001) to the fake panacea "Get Well, Now!" (March 2001) to the final cry of "Betrayed!" (April 2001). Renewed your subscription yet? The demographic team has 'Van Ecked' your number: you are being paced and led. Meanwhile, the sharks are circling outside your cubicle window . . .

Break trance. Change power roles. Kill off your 'inner freelancer' and Become a dominatrix.

William S. Burroughs proclaimed, during the tumultuous Vietnam War, that America's Image Capitol lay in ruins. And so, in the tradition of the Via Sinistrae, I proclaim this Curse on those who have perverted our desires for their own ends, and foreclosed on our most cherished dreams. A Black Mass for the 24/7 Digerati, if you will:

May all adherents and founders of Corporate Religions have their 501(c)3 status revoked and face an IRS audit.

May IBM atone for trading with Holocaust perpetrators.

May Amazon.com's Seattle unionists have their revenge on Jeff Bezos.

May the hackers prevail and the world witness Timothy McVeigh's execution.

And may Bill Gates and Larry Ellison experience the liberation of terminal brain clots on their next intercontinental plane flight.

Hear then this Doom which I pronounce, and beware the Ka which now Comes Into Being through that Art which is mine to command.