Many wonderful stories enchanted my childhood, but if I had to choose the one which really impressed me, it would be the fable of the fisherman and the magic fish. As I grew, I continued to read fiction, but included nonfiction. Last year I read The Road Ahead by Bill Gates, which influencd my thoughts about the configuration of the world in the future.

The other day it dawned on me that these two pieces, so disparate in tone, category, style, and length, are linked in a profound way. Undoubtedly, if Bill Gates knew what his book is being compared to, he would double over with laughter, but that doesn't faze me at all.

We all know the story of the fisherman who, urged by his wife, kept asking the magic fish for more and more. I had a hard time as a child understanding how a woman accustomed to living in a wind-whipped hut wouldn't stop capitalizing on her good fortune until she eventually lost it all. For me the story was an embodiment of greed, stupidity and the lack of co