Hart believes that humanity stands on the threshold of a new era in which there will be a pressing need to develop, conceptually and in practice, an awareness of the common problems facing world society as a whole. We have scarcely begun to contemplate how to establish and maintain the social, technological and cultural infrastructures we will need to survive in the 21st century. In a polarized world characterized by staggering economic inequalities, recent advances in technology offer radical possibilities for the development of human freedom and equality. Hart’s particular focus in this book is the Internet, which he argues holds the potential for a re-personalization of economic relations. In this world, new means of exchange could be harnessed to the ends of a truer economic democracy. Money is the problem, but it is also the solution. Hart, an anthropologist by training, offers a new view on the interaction between money, capitalism, and culture – now, in the future, and throughout history. The many important strands of thought and experience in this book will challenge established views from all quarters of economic, political, and social thought.

哈特认为，人类正站在一个新时代的门槛上，在这个新时代中，迫切需要在概念上和实践中培养对整个世界社会面临的共同问题的认识。我们几乎没有开始考虑如何建立和维护我们在21世纪生存所需的社会、技术和文化基础设施。在一个以惊人的经济不平等为特征的两极分化世界中，最近的技术进步为人类自由与平等的发展提供了根本的可能性。哈特在本书中特别关注的是互联网，他认为互联网具有经济关系再个性化的潜力。在这个世界上，可以利用新的交换手段来实现真正的经济民主。钱是问题，但也是解决办法。哈特是一位受过训练的人类学家，他对金钱、资本主义和文化之间的相互作用提出了一种新的观点——无论是现在、未来还是整个历史。本书中的许多重要思想和经验将挑战经济、政治和社会思想各个方面的既定观点。