Creating and accumulating wealth is more than just a necessity. For centuries, the practice of climbing the ladder to wealth has fueled wars, influenced literature, and shaped cultures. Whether wealth comes in the form of money or food, all civilizations have sought it out.

The wealth creation system is based on the current worldview, which in turn is based on the way science is studied and perceived. Most people will not be aware of the existing paradigms of wealth creation. They will be too busy accumulating and creating wealth instead of worrying about the process they and their wealth went through.

Existing paradigms in wealth creation drive economies, and any deficiencies in existing paradigms can lead to changes being made in the background of wealth creation. A new science can pique people’s interest and shift investments in different directions. A change in interest and investments can create new views of the world. With new science and worldviews, a new system of wealth creation can be developed. This paradigm shift can be sustained as long as the system is relevant. Again, shortcomings will be found, and again, changes will be made. The process continues.

Early humans were nomads. They moved and lived hand to mouth, saving little for the shops and subsisting on whatever food they could find. As soon as they settled down, and as soon as farming became a way of life, humans learned to stockpile. Keeping provisions meant keeping wealth. Having wealth gave humans the opportunity to dominate those who had much less wealth. The gap between the haves and have-nots grew and widened.

At this point, localized wealth creation was rampant, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the Middle Ages. Rich landowners employed poor farmers to work as slaves or fiefdoms. Wealth was amassed by force. Compensation came only if the harvest was successful and the fruits of the harvest could be sold. Only a few people had wealth, and they weren’t very charitable to begin with.

As human skills spread beyond agriculture, the industrial age began and centralized wealth creation became the paradigm. The slaves became employees who were compensated with wages and salaries. As payments became standardized, so did businesses. Monopolies abounded and competition was low.

However, science was booming, and as more and more people became educated in science, more and more people began to understand the industry and how it worked. Slowly, competition increased, monopolies were broken, and jobs previously given to a few people could now be filled by many.

With the expansion and abundance of industries came advances in science, and with these advances came discoveries that created more jobs. With vaccination came the epidemiologists. With the discovery of DNA came molecular biologists. Featuring internet cam web designers, graphic artists, and database creators.

With the rise of the information age comes massive privatization. The wealth creation paradigm consisted of communities without borders, where everyone could specialize in everything. A scientist could be a journalist but specialize in nuclear physics. An academic might be an economist consulting with the government on the feasibility of introducing new agricultural crops. As the World Wide Web slowly crossed the globe, careers intersected and merged.

If the medieval age brought power into the hands of the rich of the land, and if the industrial age bowed to the rich of industry, the modern age transfers wealth to those with brains. The richest man in the world is Bill Gates, a nerd who still laughs on his way to the bank.

The massive privatization of the modern era has made companies help each other to move forward. If a food company wants progress, it must consult with scientists to conduct safety tests on its products, nutritionists to proclaim its products as superior, advertising agencies to market its product, and complete eBusiness solutions to move the mortar-and-brick office to the Internet.

The paradigm is all about teamwork: to create wealth, everyone must help each other succeed. Minors no longer go into debt to enrich their elders. Everyone has to run the race, but everyone must hold hands to reach the finish line together.

Some researchers have called this the era of free intra-firm, the era of massive decentralization of wealth creation. This is an age where everyone can be rich, and everyone can do it without being accountable to a higher power. People don’t just receive wages or salaries, they can be compensated based on their value or a percentage of what they have sold. They can make wealth and receive it in various ways.

With the Internet bringing people together, the world has become one big family. The potential to create and accumulate wealth is no longer in the hands of one person, it is given to many, and yet these many elements that work separately must still work together to succeed individually.

For the time being, with knowledge readily available and intelligence appreciated, the current paradigm seems adequate. However, how long it will last and what will happen next is still beyond the predictive powers of today’s brain-driven society.