Zur Entfaltung der Macht des Kalkuels in der Wirtschaft und BWL

Information technology transforms the economy in a fundamental way. This change becomes evident e.g. with the marginalisation of physical distance and with the acceleration of productivity growth. This is due to the development of computer science, of machine readable languages which are spreading and constitute a globally uniform language of communication.The core innovation of the computer is formalism or calculation. Its expression in mathematical terms has led to the development of modern information technology and its implementation rules the construction of the new IT-world with ever growing powerful services. A new basic science has emerged from the kernel of computer sciences, expressing itself by calculus and its implementations. The paper lines out the transforming effect of ICT on economy, first referring to the belonging historical developments, subsequently pointing out that calculus will change economy and business administration in a most fundamental way. The change manifests itself in the creation of an artificial system of symbols for representational purposes.The author?s point of view is a historical, even philosophical approach. He spans the horizon for the computer dominated world today from Descartes in the 17th until the 21st century. The Cartesian ?res extensa? (i.e. the extended substance; physical matter) has been revolutionized in the time of the industrialization. Today, it is the turn for the Cartesian"res cogitans" (i.e. the thinking substance; knowledge) to become revolutionized. With the new ICT based information processing, the new media, we are amidst a new industrialization. It will result in the development of economy and business administration towards a precise science, built on a formal basis: the calculus.