From: Tyranny of the Moment by Thomas Hylland Eriksen
In information society, the scarcest resource for people on the supply side of the economy is neither iron ore nor sacks of grain, but the attention of others. Everyone who works in the information field ? from weather forecasters to professors ? compete over the same seconds, minutes and hours of other people?s lives. Unlike what happens to physical objects, the amount of information does not diminish when one gives it away or sells it.
Stolen from here.
This has come up before.